Map based neighborhood search and community contribution

ABSTRACT

A method, apparatus and system of map based community search and neighborhood contribution are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes associating a verified registered user with a user profile, associating the user profile with a specific geographic location, generating a map concurrently displaying the user profile and the specific geographic location and simultaneously generating, in the map, wiki profiles associated with different geographic locations surrounding the specific geographic location associated with the user profile.

CLAIMS OF PRIORITY

This patent application claims priority from:

(1) U.S. Provisional patent application No. 60/783,226, titled ‘Tradeidentity licensing in a professional services environment with conflict’filed on Mar. 17, 2006. (2) U.S. Provisional patent application No.60/817,470 titled ‘Segmented services having a global structure ofnetworked independent entities’, filed Jun. 28, 2006. (3) U.S.Provisional patent application No. 60/853,499, titled ‘Method andapparatus of neighborhood expression and user contribution system’ filedon Oct. 19, 2006. (4) U.S. Provisional patent application No. 60/854,230titled ‘Method and apparatus of neighborhood expression and usercontribution system’ filed on Oct. 25, 2006. FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

This disclosure relates generally to the technical fields ofcommunications and, in one example embodiment, to a method, apparatus,and system of map based community search and neighborhood contribution.

BACKGROUND

A neighborhood may be a geographically localized community in a largercity, town, and/or suburb. Residents of the neighborhood may refer toeach other as neighbors, although this term may also be used across muchlarger distances in rural areas. In theory, the neighborhood may besmall enough that the neighbors may be able to know each other bywalking and/or driving a short distance (e.g., 5 miles) around theirplace of residence and/or their place of work. However, in practice, theneighbors may not know one another very well (e.g., because of busyschedules, fenced communities, lack of effort, a lack of time, etc.).

The neighborhood may be given a designated status through a neighborhoodassociation, a neighborhood watch group, a political group, a homeownersassociation, and/or a tenant association. These groups may help inmatters such as lawn care and fence height, and they may provide suchservices as block parties, neighborhood parks, children activities,special interest groups, and/or community security. However, gettingmessages out to residents of the neighborhood may require expensivedirect mail, and/or time consuming door to door meetings with residentsof the neighborhood.

A neighborhood watch (e.g., a crime watch, a block watch, a neighborhoodcrime watch, etc.) may be an organization of active residents devoted tocrime and/or vandalism prevention in the neighborhood. Members of theneighborhood watch may stay alert of unusual activity, behaviors, and/orcrime in the neighborhood. However, most residents may not be activeparticipants of the neighborhood association (e.g., because of a lack oftime), and may be unaware of safety, security, and/or prevention issuesin their immediate area.

For example, in many American communities, while a few active residentsknow a lot of their neighbors, there are far more residents who do noteven know what professions, interests, and reputations are of theirimmediate next-door neighbors. As a result, friendships among neighborsdon't form as often, neighbors have more difficult time asking otherneighbors for help, safety in the neighborhood suffers, quality of lifeis impacted, and a sense of community is diminishing.

SUMMARY

A method, apparatus and system of map based neighborhood search andcommunity contribution are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includesassociating a verified registered user with a user profile, associatingthe user profile with a specific geographic location, generating a mapconcurrently displaying the user profile and the specific geographiclocation, and simultaneously generating, in the map, wiki profilesassociated with different geographic locations surrounding the specificgeographic location associated with the user profile.

The method may also includes processing a query of at least one of theuser profile and the specific geographic location and converting aparticular wiki profile of the wiki profiles to another user profilewhen a different registered user claims a particular geographic locationto the specific geographic location associated with the particular wikiprofile, wherein the user profile is tied to a specific property in aneighborhood, and wherein the particular wiki profile is associated witha neighboring property to the specific property in the neighborhood.

The method may further include delisting a certain wiki profile of thewiki profiles when a private registered user claims a certain geographiclocation adjacent to at least one of the specific geographic locationand the particular geographic location and masking the certain wikiprofile in the map when the certain wiki profile is delisted through therequest of the private registered user. Moreover, the method may includeprocessing a tag data associated with at least one of the specificgeographic location, a particular geographic location, and/or thedelisted geographic location, displaying a frequent one of the tag datawhen the specific geographic location and/or the particular geographiclocation is made active, but not when a geographic location is delisted,permitting a commercial user to purchase a customizable business profileassociated with a commercial geographic location, enabling the verifiedregistered user to communicate a message to the neighborhood based on aselectable distance range away from the specific geographic locationand/or processing a payment of the commercial user and the verifiedregistered user.

Furthermore, the method may also include permitting the verifiedregistered user to edit any information in the wiki profiles includingthe particular wiki profile and the certain wiki profile until thecertain wiki profile is claimed by the different registered user and/orthe private registered user, enabling a claimant of any wiki profile tocontrol what information is displayed on their user profile and/orallowing the claimant to segregate certain information on their userprofile such that only other registered users directly connected to theclaimant are able to view data on their user profile.

Also, the method may include applying a first user ID with the verifiedregistered user and a second user ID to the different registered user,connecting the verified registered user with the different registereduser with each other through at least one of a geo-positioning dataassociated with the first user ID and the second user ID, setting amaximum degree of separation (Nmax) of at least two that is allowed forconnecting any two registered users, wherein two registered users whoare directly connected are deemed to be separated by one degree ofseparation, two registered users who are connected through no less thanone other registered user are deemed to be separated by two degrees ofseparation and/or two registered users who are connected through no lessthan N other registered users are deemed to be separated by N+1 degreesof separation, searching the user ID of the different registered user ina set of user IDs that are stored of registered users who are less thanNmax degrees of separation away from the verified registered user, andnot in the sets of user IDs that are stored for registered users who aregreater than or equal to Nmax degrees of separation away from theverified registered user, until the user ID of the different registereduser is found in one of the searched sets and/or connecting the verifiedregistered user to the different registered user if the user ID of thedifferent registered user is found in one of the searched sets, whereinthe method limits the searching of the different registered user in thesets of user IDs that are stored of registered users who are less thanNmax degrees of separation away from the verified registered user, suchthat the verified registered user and/or the different registered userwho are separated by more than Nmax degrees of separation are not foundand connected.

The method may include searching initially in the sets of user IDs thatare stored of registered users who are directly connected to theverified registered user, communicating a profile of the differentregistered user to the verified registered user to display through amarker associating the verified registered user with the differentregistered user, storing a connection path between the verifiedregistered user and the different registered user, the connection pathindicating at least one other registered user through whom theconnection path between the verified registered user and the differentregistered user is made, communicating the connection path between theverified registered user and the different registered user to theverified registered user to display and/or embedding a hyperlink in theconnection path of each of the registered users through whom theconnection path between the verified registered user and the differentregistered user is made.

The method may also include storing of each registered user associatede-mail addresses of individuals who are not registered users and/oridentified by each registered user as neighbors, communicating out aninvitation to become a new user to neighbors of the particular user,processing an acceptance of a neighbor to whom the invitation was sent,adding the neighbor to a database and/or storing of the neighbor, a userID and/or a set of user IDs of registered users who are directlyconnected to the neighbor, the set of user IDs stored of the neighborincluding at least the user ID of the verified registered user,notifying the verified registered user that the invitation to theneighbor has been accepted when an acceptance is processed and/orprocessing inputs from the neighbor having descriptive data about thefriend and storing the inputs in the database.

Moreover the method may include communicating brief profiles ofregistered users, including a brief profile of the different registereduser, to the verified registered user for display, each of the briefprofiles including a hyperlink to a corresponding full profile,processing a hyperlink selection from the verified registered user,wherein, upon processing the hyperlink selection of the full profile ofthe different registered user, the full profile of the differentregistered user may be communicated to the verified registered user fordisplay and ensuring that brief profiles of those registered users whoare more than Nmax degrees of separation away from the verifiedregistered user are not communicated to the verified registered user fordisplay.

In another aspect, a system includes any number of neighborhoods havingregistered users and/or unregistered users of a global neighborhoodenvironment, a social community module of the global neighborhoodenvironment to generate a building creator in which the registered usersmay create and/or modify empty wiki profiles, building layouts, socialnetwork pages, and/or floor levels structures housing residents and/orbusinesses in the neighborhood, a wiki module of the global neighborhoodenvironment to enable the registered users to create a social networkpage of themselves, and/or to edit information associated with theunregistered users identifiable through a viewing of physical propertiesin which the unregistered users reside when the registered users haveknowledge of characteristics associated with the unregistered users.

In addition, a search module of the global neighborhood environment mayenable a people search, a business search, and a category search of anydata in the social community module and/or to enable embedding of anycontent in the global neighborhood environment in other search engines,blogs, social networks, professional networks and static websites, acommerce module of the global neighborhood environment to provide anadvertisement system to a business who purchase their location in theglobal neighborhood environment in which the advertisement may beviewable concurrently with a map indicating a location of the business,and in which revenue may be attributed to the global neighborhoodenvironment when the registered users and/or the unregistered usersclick-in on a simultaneously displayed data of the advertisement alongwith the map indicating a location of the business, and/or a map moduleof the global neighborhood environment to include a map data associatedwith a satellite data which serves as a basis of rendering the map inthe global neighborhood environment and/or which includes a simplifiedmap generator which may transform the map to a fewer color and/orlocation complex form using a parcel data which identifies someresidence, civic, and business locations in the satellite data.

The system may include a verify module of the social community module toauthenticate an email address of a registered user prior to enabling theregistered user to edit information associated with the unregisteredusers through an email response and a digital signature technique, agroup generator module of the social community module to enable theregistered users to form groups with each other surrounding a commonneighborhood political, cultural, educational, professional and/orsocial interest, a tagging module of the social community module toenable the registered users and/or the unregistered users to leave briefcomments on each of the wiki profiles and social network pages in theglobal neighborhood environment.

Brief comments may be simultaneously displayed when a pointing devicerolls over a pushpin indicating a physical property associated with anyof the registered users and/or the unregistered users, a pushpin moduleof the social community module to generate customized indicators ofdifferent types of users, locations, and/or interests directly in themap, an announce module of the social community module to distribute amessage in a specified range of distance away from the registered userswhen the registered user purchases the message to communicate to certainones of the registered users surrounding a geographic vicinity adjacentto the particular registered user originating the message, wherein theparticular registered user purchases the message through a governmentalcurrency and a number of tokens collected by the particular user througha creation of content in the global neighborhood environment, an nthdegree module of the social community module to enable the particularregistered user to communicate with an unknown registered user through acommon registered user known by the particular registered user and/orthe unknown registered user that may be an nth degree of separation awayfrom the particular registered user and the unknown registered user anda profile module of the social community module to create a set ofprofiles of each one of the registered users and/or to enable each oneof the registered users to submit media content of themselves, otherregistered users, and unregistered users identifiable through the map.

Moreover, the system may include a claim module of wiki module to enablethe unregistered users to claim the physical properties associated withtheir residence, a dispute resolution module of the wiki module todetermine a legitimate user of different unregistered users who claim asame physical property, a defamation prevention module of the wikimodule to enable the registered users to modify the informationassociated with the unregistered users identifiable through the viewingof the physical properties, and/or to enable registered user voting ofan accuracy of the information associated with the unregistered users, areviews module of the wiki module to provide comments, local reviewsand/or ratings of various businesses as contributed by the registeredusers and/or unregistered users of the global network environment, awiki-social network conversion module of the wiki module to transformthe wiki profiles to social network profiles when the registered usersclaim the wiki profiles.

Furthermore, the system may include a communication module of the searchmodule to enable voice over internet, live chat, and/or groupannouncement functionality in the global neighborhood environment amongdifferent members of the global neighborhood environment, a directoryassistance module of the search module to provide voice responseassistance to the users assessable through a web and/or telephonyinterface of any category, business, community, and/or residence searchqueries of the users of any search engine embedding content of theglobal neighborhood environment, an embed module of the search module toautomatically extract address and/or contact info from other socialnetworks, search engines, and/or content providers, and/or to enableautomatic extraction of group lists from contact databases of instantmessaging platforms and a no-match module of the search module torequest additional information from the verified registered user about aperson, place, and business having no listing in the global neighborhoodenvironment when no matches are found in a search query of the verifiedregistered user, and/or to create a new wiki page based on a response ofthe verified registered user about the person, place, and business notpreviously indexed in the global neighborhood environment.

The system may further include a geo-position advertisement rankingmodule of the commerce module to determine an order of the advertisement(e.g., the advertisement may be a display advertisement, a textadvertisement, and/or an employment recruiting portal associated withthe business that is simultaneously displayed with the map indicatingthe location of the business) in a series of other advertisementsprovided in the global neighborhood environment by other advertisers, aclick-through tracking module of the commerce module to determine anumber of click throughs from the advertisement to a primary website ofthe business, click-in tracking module of the commerce module todetermine a number of users who clicked in to the advertisementsimultaneously displayed with the map indicating the location of thebusiness, a community marketplace module of the commerce module toprovide a forum in which the registered users may trade and/or announcemessages of trading events with certain registered users in geographicproximity from each other and a content syndication module of thecommerce module to enable any data in the commerce module to besyndicated to other network based trading platforms.

The system may include a cartoon map converter module in the map moduleto apply a filter to the satellite data to transform the satellite datainto a simplified polygon based representation using a Bezier curvealgorithm that converts point data of the satellite data to a simplifiedform.

In yet another aspect, a global neighborhood environment includes afirst instruction set to enable a social network to reside above a mapdata, in which the social network may be associated with specificgeographical locations identifiable in the map data, a secondinstruction set integrated with the first instruction set to enableusers of the social network to create profiles of other people through aforum which provides a free form of expression of the users sharinginformation about any entities and/or people residing in anygeographical location identifiable in the satellite map data, and/or toprovide a technique of each of the users to claim a geographic locationto control content in their respective claimed geographic locations anda third instruction set integrated with the first instruction set andthe second instruction set to enable searching of people in the globalneighborhood environment by indexing each of the data shared by theusers of any of the people and/or the entities residing in anygeographic location.

The global neighborhood environment may include a fourth instruction setto provide a moderation of content about each other posted of the usersthrough trusted users of the global neighborhood environment who have anability to ban specific users and/or delete any offensive and libelouscontent in the global neighborhood environment. Also, the globalneighborhood environment may include a fifth instruction set to enablean insertion of any content generated in the global neighborhoodenvironment in other search engines through a syndication and/oradvertising relationship between the global neighborhood environmentand/or other internet commerce and search portals.

Furthermore, the global neighborhood environment may include a sixthinstruction set to grow the social network through neighborhood groups,local politicians, block watch communities, issue activism groups, andneighbors who invite other known parties and/or members to shareprofiles of themselves and learn characteristics and information aboutother supporters and/or residents in a geographic area of interestthrough the global neighborhood environment.

The global neighborhood environment may also include a seventhinstruction set to determine quantify an effect on a desirability of alocation, a popularity of a location, and/or a market value of alocation based on an algorithm that considers a number of demographicand social characteristics of a region surrounding the location througha reviews module.

The methods, systems, and apparatuses disclosed herein may beimplemented in any means for achieving various aspects, and may beexecuted in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set ofinstructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine toperform any of the operations disclosed herein. Other features will beapparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detaileddescription that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitationin the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like referencesindicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a system view of a global neighborhood environmentcommunicating with the neighborhood(s) through a network, anadvertiser(s), a global map data and an occupant data according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a social community module of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a search module of FIG. 1, according toone embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a wiki module of FIG. 1, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a commerce module of FIG. 1, according toone embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a map module of FIG. 1, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a table view of user address details, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a social community view of a social community module,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a profile view of a profile module, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 10 is a contribute view of a neighborhood network module, accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic system view of a data processing system inwhich any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be performed,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12A is a user interface view of mapping user profile of thegeographical location, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12B is a user interface view of mapping of the wiki profile,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 13A is a user interface view of mapping of a wiki profile of thecommercial user, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 13B is a user interface view of mapping of customizable businessprofile of the commercial user, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a user interface view of a group view associated withparticular geographical location, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a user interface view of claim view, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 16 is a user interface view of a building builder, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 17 is a systematic view of communication of wiki data, according toone embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a systematic view of a network view, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a database, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary graphical user interface view for datacollection, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary graphical user interface view of imagecollection, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 22 is an exemplary graphical user interface view of an invitation,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of inviting the invitee(s) by the registereduser, notifying the registered user upon the acceptance of theinvitation by the invitee(s) and, processing and storing the input dataassociated with the user in the database, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of adding the neighbor to the queue, according toone embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of communicating brief profiles of the registeredusers, processing a hyperlink selection from the verified registereduser and calculating and ensuring the Nmax degree of separation of theregistered users away from verified registered users, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 26 is an N degree separation view, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a user interface view showing a map, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 28A is a process flow chart of searching a map based community andneighborhood contribution, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 28B is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28A showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 28C is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28B showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 28D is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28C showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 28E is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28D showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment.

Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from theaccompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method, apparatus and system of map based neighborhood search andcommunity contribution are disclosed. In the following description, forthe purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments. Itwill be evident, however to one skilled in the art that the variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details.

In one embodiment, a method includes associating a verified registereduser (e.g., a verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, a verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) with a user profile, associating theuser profile (e.g., the user profile 1200 of FIG. 12A) with a specificgeographic location, generating a map (e.g., a map 1701 of FIG. 17)concurrently displaying the user profile and/or the specific geographiclocation and simultaneously generating, in the map (e.g., the map 1701of FIG. 17), wiki profiles (e.g., a wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, awiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, a wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17)associated with different geographic locations surrounding the specificgeographic location associated with the user profile (e.g., the userprofile 1200 of FIG. 12A).

In another embodiment, a system includes a plurality of neighborhoods(e.g., the neighborhood(s) 102A-N of FIG. 1) having registered usersand/or unregistered users of a global neighborhood environment (e.g., aglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1), a social communitymodule (e.g., a social community module 106 of FIG. 1, a socialcommunity module 106 of FIG. 2) of the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) to generate abuilding creator (e.g., through building builder 200 of FIG. 2) in whichthe registered users may create and/or modify empty wiki profiles (e.g.,the wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG.13A, the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17), building layouts, social networkpages, and/or floor levels structures housing residents and businessesin the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 100 of FIG. 1), a wikimodule (e.g., a wiki module 110 of FIG. 1, a wiki module 110 of FIG. 4)of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) to enable the registered users to create asocial network page of themselves, and/or to edit information associatedwith the unregistered users identifiable through a viewing of physicalproperties in which the unregistered users reside when the registeredusers have knowledge of characteristics associated with the unregisteredusers.

In addition, the system may include search module (e.g., a search module108 of FIG. 1, a search module 108 of FIG. 3) of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) toenable a people search (e.g., information stored in people database 216of FIG. 2), a business search (e.g., information stored in businessdatabase 220 of FIG. 2), and a category search of any data in the socialcommunity module (a social community module 106 of FIG. 1, a socialcommunity module 106 of FIG. 2) and/or to enable embedding of anycontent in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) in other search engines, blogs,social networks, professional networks and/or static websites, acommerce module (e.g., a commerce module 112 of FIG. 1, a commercemodule 112 of FIG. 5) of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The system may also provide an advertisement system to a business (e.g.,through business display advertisement module 502 of FIG. 5) whopurchase their location in the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) in which theadvertisement is viewable concurrently with a map indicating a locationof the business, and in which revenue is attributed to the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1) when the registered users and/or the unregistered usersclick-in on a simultaneously displayed data of the advertisement alongwith the map indicating a location of the business, a map module (a mapmodule 114 of FIG. 1) of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) to include a map dataassociated with a satellite data which serves as a basis of renderingthe map in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) and/or which includes asimplified map generator (e.g., simplified map generator module 602 ofFIG. 6) which can transform the map to a fewer color and locationcomplex form using a parcel data which identifies at least someresidence, civic, and/or business locations in the satellite data.

In yet another embodiment, a global neighborhood environment (e.g., aglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) includes a firstinstruction set to enable a social network to reside above a map data,in which the social network may be associated with specific geographicallocations identifiable in the map data, a second instruction setintegrated with the first instruction set to enable the users (e.g., theuser 116 of FIG. 1) of the social network to create profiles of otherpeople through a forum which provides a free form of expression of theusers sharing information about any entities and/or people residing inany geographical location identifiable in the satellite map data, and/orto provide a technique of each of the users (e.g., the user 116 ofFIG. 1) to claim a geographic location (a geographic location 1204 ofFIG. 12A) to control content in their respective claimed geographiclocations and a third instruction set integrated with the firstinstruction set and/or the second instruction set to enable searching ofpeople in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) by indexing each of the datashared by the users (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) of any of the peopleand entities residing in any geographic location (a geographic location1204 of FIG. 12A).

FIG. 1 is a system view of a global neighborhood environment 100communicating with neighborhood(s) 102A-N through a network 104, anadvertiser(s) 124, a global map data 126, an occupant data 128,according to one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 1 illustrates the globalneighborhood environment 100, the neighborhood 102A-N, the network 104,advertiser(s) 124, global map data 126, and the occupant data 128,according to one embodiment. The global neighborhood environment 100 maycontain a social community module 106, a search module 108, a wikimodule 110, a commerce module 112 and a map module 114. The neighborhoodmay include a user 116, a community center 120, a residence 118, aneighbor 120 and a business 122, according to one embodiment.

The global neighborhood environment 100 may include any number ofneighborhoods having registered users and/or unregistered users. Theneighborhood(s) 102 may be a geographically localized community in alarger city, town, and/or suburb. The network 104 may be search engines,blogs, social networks, professional networks and static website thatmay unite individuals, groups and/or community. The social communitymodule 106 may generate a building creator in which the registered usersmay create and/or modify empty wiki profiles (e.g., a wiki profile 1206of FIG. 12A-12B, a wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, a wiki profile 1704 ofFIG. 17). The search module 108 may include searching of information ofan individual, group and/or community.

The wiki module 110 may enable the registered users to create and/orupdate their information. A ‘wiki’ (e.g., may be enabled through thewiki module 110) can be defined as a perpetual collective work of manyauthors. Similar to a blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows anyoneto edit, delete or modify content that has been placed on the Web siteusing a browser interface, including the work of previous authors. Incontrast, a blog (e.g., or a social network page), typically authored byan individual, may not allow visitors to change the original postedmaterial, only add comments to the original content. The term wikirefers to either the web site or the software used to create the site.The term ‘wiki’ also implies fast creation, ease of creation, andcommunity approval in many software contexts (e.g., wiki means “quick”in Hawaiian).

The commerce module 112 may provide an advertisement system to abusiness that may enable the users to purchase location in theneighborhood(s) 102. The map module 114 may be indulged in study,practice, representing and/or generating maps, or globes. The user 116may be an individuals and/or households that may purchase and/or usegoods and services and/or be an active member of any group or communityand/or resident and/or a part of any neighborhood(s) 102. The residence118 may be a house, a place to live and/or like a nursing home in aneighborhood(s) 102.

The community center 120 may be public locations where members of acommunity may gather for group activities, social support, publicinformation, and other purposes. The business 122 may be a customerservice, finance, sales, production, communications/public relationsand/or marketing organization that may be located in the neighborhood(s)102. The advertiser(s) 124 may be an individual and/or a firm drawingpublic who may be responsible in encouraging the people attention togoods and/or services by promoting businesses, and/or may performthrough a variety of media. The global map data 126 may contain thedetails/maps of any area, region and/or neighborhood. The socialcommunity module 106 of the global neighborhood environment 100 maycommunicate with the neighborhood(s) 102 through the network 104 and/orthe search module 108. The social community module 106 of the globalneighborhood environment 100 may communicate with the advertiser(s) 124through the commerce module, the occupant data 128 and/or global mapdata 126 through the map module 114.

For example, the neighborhoods 102A-N may have registered users and/orunregistered users of a global neighborhood environment 100. Also, thesocial community module 106 of the global neighborhood environment 100may generate a building creator (e.g., building builder 1602 of FIG. 16)in which the registered users may create and/or modify empty wikiprofiles, building layouts, social network pages, and/or floor levelsstructures housing residents and/or businesses in the neighborhood.

In addition, the wiki module 110 of the global neighborhood environment100 may enable the registered users to create a social network page ofthemselves, and/or may edit information associated with the unregisteredusers identifiable through a viewing of physical properties in which,the unregistered users reside when the registered users have knowledgeof characteristics associated with the unregistered users.

Furthermore, the search module 108 of the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 may enable a people search (e.g., the people searchwidget 300 of FIG. 3), a business search (e.g., the business searchmodule 302 of FIG. 3), and/or a category search (e.g., the categorysearch widget 304 of FIG. 3) of any data in the social community module106 and/or may enable embedding of any content in the globalneighborhood environment 100 in other search engines, blogs, socialnetworks, professional networks and/or static websites.

The commerce module 112 of the global neighborhood environment 100 mayprovide an advertisement system to a business who purchase theirlocation in the global neighborhood environment 100 in which theadvertisement may be viewable concurrently with a map indicating alocation of the business, and/or in which revenue may be attributed tothe global neighborhood environment 100 when the registered users and/orthe unregistered users click-in on a simultaneously displayed data ofthe advertisement along with the map indicating a location of thebusiness.

Moreover, a map module 114 of the global neighborhood environment 100may include a map data associated with a satellite data (e.g., generatedby the satellite data module 600 of FIG. 6) which may serve as a basisof rendering the map in the global neighborhood environment 100 and/orwhich includes a simplified map generator which may transform the map toa fewer color and/or location complex form using a parcel data whichidentifies some residence, civic, and/or business locations in thesatellite data.

In addition, a first instruction set may enable a social network toreside above a map data, in which the social network may be associatedwith specific geographical locations identifiable in the map data. Also,a second instruction set integrated with the first instruction set mayenable users of the social network to create profiles of other peoplethrough a forum which provides a free form of expression of the userssharing information about any entities and/or people residing in anygeographical location identifiable in the satellite map data, and/or toprovide a technique of each of the users to claim a geographic location(e.g., a geographic location 1024 of FIG. 12A) to control content intheir respective claimed geographic locations (e.g., a geographiclocation 1024 of FIG. 12A).

Furthermore, a third instruction set integrated with the firstinstruction set and the second instruction set may enable searching ofpeople in the global neighborhood environment 100 by indexing each ofthe data shared by the user 116 of any of the people and/or the entitiesresiding in any geographic location (e.g., a geographic location 1024 ofFIG. 12A). A fourth instruction set may provide a moderation of contentabout each other posted of the users 116 through trusted users of theglobal neighborhood environment 100 who have an ability to ban specificusers and/or delete any offensive and libelous content in the globalneighborhood environment 100.

Also, a fifth instruction set may enable an insertion of any contentgenerated in the global neighborhood environment 100 in other searchengines through a syndication and/or advertising relationship betweenthe global neighborhood environment 100 and/or other internet commerceand search portals.

Moreover, a sixth instruction set may grow the social network throughneighborhood groups, local politicians, block watch communities, issueactivism groups, and neighbor(s) 120 who invite other known partiesand/or members to share profiles of themselves and/or learncharacteristics and information about other supporters and/or residentsin a geographic area of interest through the global neighborhoodenvironment 100.

Also, a seventh instruction set may determine quantify an effect on atleast one of a desirability of a location, a popularity of a location,and a market value of a location based on an algorithm that considers anumber of demographic and social characteristics of a region surroundingthe location through a reviews module.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the social community module 106 of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 2 illustrates a buildingbuilder module 200, an N^(th) degree module 202, a tagging module 204, averify module 206, a groups generator module 208, a pushpin module 210,a profile module 212, an announce module 214, a people database 216, aplaces database 218, a business database 220, a friend finder module 222and a neighbor-neighbor help module 224, according to one embodiment.

The N^(th) degree module 202 may enable the particular registered userto communicate with an unknown registered user through a commonregistered user who may be a friend and/or a member of a commoncommunity. The tagging module 204 may enable the user 116 to leave briefcomments on each of the wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 ofFIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704of FIG. 17) and social network pages in the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The verify module 206 may validate the data, profiles and/or emailaddresses received from various registered user(s) before any changesmay be included. The groups generator module 208 may enable theregistered users to form groups may be depending on common interest,culture, style, hobbies and/or caste. The pushpin module 210 maygenerate customized indicators of different types of users, locations,and interests directly in the map. The profile module 212 may enable theuser to create a set of profiles of the registered users and to submitmedia content of themselves, identifiable through a map

The announce module 214 may distribute a message in a specified range ofdistance away from the registered users when a registered user purchasesa message to communicate to certain ones of the registered userssurrounding a geographic vicinity adjacent to the particular registereduser originating the message. The people database 216 may keep recordsof the visitor/users (e.g., a user 116 of FIG. 1). The places databasemodule 218 may manage the data related to the location of the user(e.g., address of the registered user). The business database 220 maymanage an extensive list of leading information related to business. Thefriend finder module 222 may match the profile of the registered userwith common interest and/or help the registered user to get in touchwith new friends or acquaintances.

For example, the verify module 206 of the social community module 106 ofFIG. 1 may authenticate an email address of a registered user prior toenabling the registered user to edit information associated with theunregistered users through an email response and/or a digital signaturetechnique. The groups generator module 208 of the social communitymodule (e.g., the social community module 106 of FIG. 1) may enable theregistered users to form groups with each other surrounding at least oneof a common neighborhood (e.g., a neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1),political, cultural, educational, professional and/or social interest.

In addition, the tagging module 204 of the social community module(e.g., the social community module 106 of FIG. 1) may enable theregistered users and/or the unregistered users to leave brief commentson each of the wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 of FIG.12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 ofFIG. 17) and/or social network pages in the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1),in which the brief comments may be simultaneously displayed when apointing device rolls over a pushpin indicating a physical propertyassociated with any of the registered users and/or the unregisteredusers. Also, the pushpin module 210 of the social community module 106of FIG. 1 may be generating customized indicators of different types ofusers, locations, and/or interests directly in the map.

Further, the announce module 214 of the social community module 106 ofFIG. 1 may distribute a message in a specified range of distance awayfrom the registered users when a registered user purchases a message tocommunicate to certain ones of the registered users surrounding ageographic vicinity adjacent to the particular registered useroriginating the message, wherein the particular registered userpurchases the message through a governmental currency and/or a number oftokens collected by the particular user (e.g. the user 116 of FIG. 1)through a creation of content in the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

In addition, the N^(th) degree module 202 of the social community module106 of FIG. 1 may enable the particular registered user to communicatewith an unknown registered user through a common registered user knownby the particular registered user and/or the unknown registered userthat is an N^(th) degree of separation away from the particularregistered user and/or the unknown registered user.

Moreover, the profile module 212 of the social community module 106 ofFIG. 1 may create a set of profiles of each one of the registered usersand to enable each one of the registered users to submit media contentof themselves, other registered users, and unregistered usersidentifiable through the map.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the search module 108 of FIG. 1, accordingto one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 3 illustrates a people searchwidget 300, a business search module 302, a category search widget 304,a communication module 306, a directory assistance module 308, anembedding module 310, a no-match module 312, a range selector module314, a chat widget 316, a group announcement widget 318, a Voice Over IPwidget 320, according to one embodiment.

The people search widget 300 may help in getting the information likethe address, phone number and/or e-mail id of the people of particularinterest from a group and/or community. The business search module 302may help the users (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) to find the companies,products, services, and/or business related information they need toknow about.

The category search widget 304 may narrow down searches from a broaderscope (e.g., if one is interested in information from a particularcenter, one can go to the category under the center and enter one'squery there and it will return results from that particular categoryonly). The communication module 306 may provide/facilitate multiple bywhich one can communicate, people to communicate with, and subjects tocommunicate about among different members of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The directory assistance module 308 may provide voice responseassistance to users (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) assessable through aweb and telephony interface of any category, business and search queriesof user's of any search engine contents. The embedding module 310 mayautomatically extract address and/or contact info from other socialnetworks, search engines, and content providers.

The no-match module 312 may request additional information from averified registered user (e.g., a verified registered user 1310 of FIG.13A-B, a verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) about a person,place, and business having no listing in the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1)when no matches are found in a search query of the verified registereduser (e.g., a verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, a verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16).

The chat widget 316 may provide people to chat online, which is a way ofcommunicating by broadcasting messages to people on the same site inreal time. The group announcement widget 318 may communicate with agroup and/or community in may be by Usenet, Mailing list, calling and/orE-mail message sent to notify subscribers. The Voice over IP widget 320may help in routing of voice conversations over the Internet and/orthrough any other IP-based network. The communication module 306 maycommunicate directly with the people search widget 300, the businesssearch module 302, the category search widget 304, the directoryassistance module 308, the embedding module 310 may communicate with theno-match module 312 through the range selector module 314.

For example, a search module 108 of the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) may enable the peoplesearch, the business search, and the category search of any data in thesocial community module (e.g., the social community module 106 ofFIG. 1) and/or may enable embedding of any content in the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1) in other search engines, blogs, social networks, professionalnetworks and/or static websites.

In addition, the communicate module 306 of the search module 106 mayenable voice over internet, live chat, and/or group announcementfunctionality in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) among different members of theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1).

Also, the directory assistance module 308 of the search module 108 mayprovide voice response assistance to users (e.g., the user 116 ofFIG. 1) assessable through a web and/or telephony interface of anycategory, business, community, and residence search queries of users(e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) of any search engine embedding content ofthe global neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1).

The embedding module 310 of the search module 108 may automaticallyextract address and/or contact info from other social networks, searchengines, and content providers, and/or to enable automatic extraction ofgroup lists from contact databases of instant messaging platforms.

Furthermore, the no-match module 312 of the search module 108 to requestadditional information from the verified registered user (e.g., theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B) about a person, place,and/or business having no listing in the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) when nomatches are found in a search query of the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and to create a new wiki page based ona response of the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) about the at least one person, place, and/or business notpreviously indexed in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the wiki module 110 of FIG. 1, accordingto one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 4 illustrates a user-place wikimodule 400, a user-user wiki module 402, a user-neighbor wiki module404, a user-business wiki module 406, a reviews module 408, a defamationprevention module 410, a wiki-social network conversion module 412, aclaim module 414, a data segment module 416, a dispute resolution module418 and a media manage module 420, according to one embodiment.

The user-place wiki module 400 may manage the information of the user(e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) location in the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).The user-user wiki module 402 may manage the user (e.g., the user 116 ofFIG. 1) to view a profile of another user and geographical location inthe neighborhood. The user-neighbor wiki module 404 may manage the user(e.g., the users 116 of FIG. 1) to view the profile of the registeredneighbor and/or may trace the geographical location of the user in theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1). The user-business wiki module 406 may managethe profile of the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) managing acommercial business in the neighborhood environment. The reviews module408 may provide remarks, local reviews and/or ratings of variousbusinesses as contributed by the users (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) ofthe global neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1). The defamation prevention module 410 mayenable the registered users to modify the information associated withthe unregistered users identifiable through the viewing of the physicalproperties.

The wiki-social network conversion module 412 of the wiki module 110 ofFIG. 1 may transform the wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 ofFIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704of FIG. 17) to social network profiles when the registered users claimthe wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, the wikiprofile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17).

The claim module 414 may enable the unregistered users to claim thephysical properties associated with their residence (e.g., the residence118 of FIG. 1). The dispute resolution module 418 may determine alegitimate user among different unregistered users who claim a samephysical property. The media manage module 420 may allows users (e.g.,the user 116 of FIG. 1) to manage and/or review a list any product fromproduct catalog using a fully integrated, simple to use interface.

The media manage module 420 may communicate with the user-place wikimodule 400, user-place wiki module 400, user-user wiki module 402, theuser-neighbor wiki module 404 and the reviews module 408 throughuser-business wiki module 406. The user-place wiki module 400 maycommunicate with the dispute resolution module 418 through the claimmodule 414. The user-user wiki module 402 may communicate with the datasegment module 416 through the wiki-social network conversion module412. The user-neighbor wiki module 404 may communicate with thedefamation prevention module 410. The user-business wiki module 406 maycommunicate with the reviews module 408. The wiki-social networkconversion module 412 may communicate with the claim module 414.

For example, the wiki module 110 of the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) may enable theregistered users to create the social network page of themselves, andmay edit information associated with the unregistered users identifiablethrough a viewing of physical properties in which the unregistered usersreside when the registered users have knowledge of characteristicsassociated with the unregistered users. Also, the claim module 414 ofwiki module 110 may enable the unregistered users to claim the physicalproperties associated with their residence.

Furthermore, the dispute resolution module 418 of the wiki module 110may determine a legitimate user of different unregistered users whoclaim a same physical property. The defamation prevention module 410 ofthe wiki module 110 may enable the registered users to modify theinformation associated with the unregistered users identifiable throughthe viewing of the physical properties, and/or to enable registered uservoting of an accuracy of the information associated with theunregistered users.

Moreover, the reviews module of the wiki module 110 may providecomments, local reviews and/or ratings of various businesses ascontributed by the registered users and/or unregistered users of theglobal network environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment100 of FIG. 1). The wiki-social network conversion module 412 of thewiki module 110 of FIG. 1 may transform the wiki profiles (e.g., thewiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A,the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17) to social network profiles when theregistered users claim the wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 ofFIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704of FIG. 17).

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the commerce module 112 of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 5 illustrates a residentannounce payment module 500, a business display advertisement module502, a geo position advertisement ranking module 504, a contentsyndication module 506, a text advertisement module 508, a communitymarketplace module 510, a click-in tracking module 512, a click-throughtracking module 514, according to one embodiment.

The community marketplace module 510 may contain garage sales 516, afree stuff 518, a block party 520 and a services 522, according to oneembodiment. The geo-position advertisement ranking module 504 maydetermine an order of the advertisement in a series of otheradvertisements provided in the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) by other advertisers.The click-through tracking module 514 may determine a number ofclicks-throughs from the advertisement to a primary website of thebusiness.

A click-in tracking module 512 may determine a number of user (e.g., theuser 116 of FIG. 1) who clicked in to the advertisement simultaneously.The community marketplace module 510 may provide a forum in which theregistered users can trade and/or announce messages of trading eventswith at least each other. The content syndication module 506 may enableany data in the commerce module (e.g., the commerce module 112 of FIGS.1,5) to be syndicated to other network based trading platforms.

The business display advertisement module 502 may impart advertisementsrelated to business (e.g., the business 122 of FIG. 1), publicrelations, personal selling, and/or sales promotion to promotecommercial goods and services. The text advertisement module 508 mayenable visibility of showing advertisements in the form of text in alldynamically created pages in the directory. The resident announcepayment module 500 may take part as component in a broader and complexprocess, like a purchase, a contract, etc.

The block party 520 may be a large public celebration in which manymembers of a single neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N ofFIG. 1) congregate to observe a positive event of some importance. Thefree stuff 518 may be the free services (e.g., advertisement, links etc)available on the net. The garage sales 516 may be services that may bedesigned to make the process of advertising and/or may find a garagesale more efficient and effective. The services 522 may be non-materialequivalent of a good designed to provide a list of services that may beavailable for the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1).

The geo position advertisement ranking module 504 may communicate withthe resident announce payment module 500, the business displayadvertisement module 502, the content syndication module 506, the textadvertisement module 508, the community marketplace module 510, theclick-in tracking module 512 and the click-through tracking module 514.

For example, the commerce module 108 of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1)may provide an advertisement system to a business which may purchasetheir location in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) in which the advertisement maybe viewable concurrently with a map indicating a location of thebusiness, and/or in which revenue may be attributed to the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1) when the registered users and/or the unregistered usersclick-in on a simultaneously displayed data of the advertisement alongwith the map indicating a location of the business.

Also, the geo-position advertisement ranking module 504 of the commercemodule 112 to determine an order of the advertisement in a series ofother advertisements provided in the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) by otheradvertisers, wherein the advertisement may be a display advertisement, atext advertisement, and/or an employment recruiting portal associatedwith the business that may be simultaneously displayed with the mapindicating the location of the business.

Moreover, the click-through tracking module 514 of the commerce module112 of FIG. 1 may determine a number of click throughs from theadvertisement to a primary website of the business. In addition, theclick in tracking module 512 of the commerce module 112 may determinethe number of users (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) who clicked in to theadvertisement simultaneously displayed with the map indicating thelocation of the business.

The community marketplace module 510 of the commerce module 112 of FIG.1 may provide a forum in which the registered users may trade and/orannounce messages of trading events with certain registered users ingeographic proximity from each other.

Also, the content syndication module 506 of the commerce module 112 ofthe FIG. 1 may enable any data in the commerce module 112 to besyndicated to other network based trading platforms.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a map module 114 of FIG. 1, according toone embodiment. Particularly FIG. 6 may include a satellite data module600, a simplified map generator module 602, a cartoon map convertermodule 604, a profile pointer module 606, a parcel module 608 andoccupant module 610, according to one embodiment. The satellite datamodule 600 may help in mass broadcasting (e.g., maps) and/or astelecommunications relays in the map module 114 of FIG. 1.

The simplified map generator module 602 may receive the data (e.g.,maps) from the satellite data module 600 and/or may convert this complexmap into a simplified map with fewer colors. The cartoon map convertermodule 604 may apply a filter to the satellite data (e.g., datagenerated by the satellite data module 600 of FIG. 6) into a simplifiedpolygon based representation.

The parcel module 608 may identify some residence, civic, and businesslocations in the satellite data (e.g., the satellite data module 600 ofFIG. 6). The occupant module 610 may detect the geographical location ofthe registered user in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The profile pointermodule 606 may detect the profiles of the registered user via the datareceived from the satellite. The cartoon map converter module 604 maycommunicate with, the satellite data module 600, the simplified mapgenerator module 602, the profile pointer module 606 and the occupantmodule 610. The parcel module 608 may communicate with the satellitedata module 600.

For example, a map module 114 of the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) may include amap data associated with a satellite data (e.g., data generated by thesatellite data module 600 of FIG. 6) which serves as a basis ofrendering the map in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) and/or which includes asimplified map generator (e.g., the simplified map generator module 602of FIG. 6) which may transform the map to a fewer color and locationcomplex form using a parcel data which identifies residence, civic, andbusiness locations in the satellite data.

Also, the cartoon map converter module 604 in the map module 114 mayapply a filter to the satellite data (e.g., data generated by thesatellite data module 600 of FIG. 6) to transform the satellite datainto a simplified polygon based representation using a Bezier curvealgorithm that converts point data of the satellite data to a simplifiedform.

FIG. 7 is a table view of user address details, according to oneembodiment. Particularly the table 750 of FIG. 7 illustrates a userfield 700, a verified field? 702, a range field 706, a links field 708,a contributed? field 710 and an other field(s) 712, according to oneembodiment. The table 750 may include the information related to theaddress verification of the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1). Theuser field 700 may include information such as the names of theregistered users in a global neighborhood environment (e.g., a globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The verified? field 702 may indicate the status whether the data,profiles and/or email address received from various registered user arevalidated or not. The range field 704 may correspond to the distance ofa particular registered user geographical location in the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1).

The principal address field 706 may display primary address of theregistered user in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The links field 708 may furthergive more accurate details and/or links of the address of the user(e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1). The contributed? field 710 may providethe user with the details of another individual and/or userscontribution towards the neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The other(s) field 712 maydisplay the details like the state, city, zip and/or others of theuser's location in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The user field 700 displays “Joe” in the first row and “Jane” in thesecond row of the user field 700 column of the table 750 illustrated inFIG. 7. The verified field? 702 displays “Yes” in the first row and “No”in the second row of the verified? field 702 column of the table 750illustrated in FIG. 7. The range field 704 displays “5 miles” in thefirst row and “Not enabled” in the second row of the range field 704column of the table 750 illustrated in FIG. 7. The principal addressfield 706 displays “500 Clifford Cupertino, Calif.” in the first row and“500 Johnson Cupertino, Calif.” in the second row of the principleaddress field 706 column of the table 750 illustrated in FIG. 7. Thelinks field 708 displays “859 Bette, 854 Bette” in the first row and“851 Bette 100 Steven's Road” in the second row of the links field 708column of the table 750 illustrated in FIG. 7.

The contributed? field 710 displays “858 Bette Cupertino, Calif.,Farallone, Calif.” in the first row and “500 Hamilton, Palo Alto,Calif., 1905 E. University” in the second row of the contributed field710 column of the table 750 illustrated in FIG. 7. The other(s) field712 displays “City, State, Zip, other” in the first row of the other(s)field 712 column of the table 750 illustrated in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 is a user interface view of the social community module 106,according to one embodiment. The user interface view 850 may display theinformation associated with the social community module (e.g., thesocial community module 106 of FIG. 1). The user interface 850 maydisplay map of the specific geographic location associated with the userprofile of the social community module (e.g., the social communitymodule 106 of FIG. 1). The user interface view 850 may display the mapbased geographic location associated with the user profile (e.g., theuser profile 1200 of FIG. 12A) only after verifying the address of theregistered user of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

In addition, the user interface 850 may provide a building creator(e.g., the building builder 1602 of FIG. 16), in which the registeredusers of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) may create and/or modify emptywiki profiles (e.g., a wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, a wiki profile1302 of FIG. 13A, a wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17), building layouts,social network pages, etc. The user interface view 850 of the socialcommunity module 106 may enable access to the user (e.g., the user 116of FIG. 1) to model a condo on any floor (e.g., basement, ground floor,first floor, etc.) selected through the drop down box by the registereduser of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The user interface 850 of thesocial community module (e.g., the social community module 106 ofFIG. 1) may enable the registered user of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) tocontribute information about their neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1).

FIG. 9 is a profile view 950 of a profile module 900, according to oneembodiment. The profile view 950 of profile module 900 may offer theregistered user to access the profile about the neighbors (e.g., theneighbor 120 of FIG. 1). The profile view 950 of profile module 900 mayindicate the information associated with the profile of the registereduser of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The profile view 950 maydisplay the address of the registered user. The profile view 950 mayalso display events organized by the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120of FIG. 1), history of the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1),and/or may also offer the information (e.g., public, private, etc)associated with the family of the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1) located in the locality of the user (e.g., the user(s) 116 ofFIG. 1) of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

FIG. 10 is a contribute view 1050 of a neighborhood network module 1000,according to one embodiment. The contribute view 1050 of theneighborhood network module 1000 may enable the registered user of theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) to add information about their neighbors inthe neighborhood network. The contribute view 1050 of the neighborhoodnetwork module 1000 may offer registered user of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) toadd valuable notes associated with the family, events, privateinformation, etc.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic system view, according to one embodiment. FIG.11 is a diagrammatic system view 1100 of a data processing system inwhich any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be performed,according to one embodiment. Particularly, the system view 1100 of FIG.11 illustrates a processor 1102, a main memory 1104, a static memory1106, a bus 1108, a video display 1110, an alpha-numeric input device1112, a cursor control device 1114, a drive unit 616, a signalgeneration device 1118, a machine readable medium 1122, instructions1124, and a network 1126, according to one embodiment.

The diagrammatic system view 1100 may indicate a personal computerand/or a data processing system in which one or more operationsdisclosed herein are performed. The processor 1102 may bemicroprocessor, a state machine, an application specific integratedcircuit, a field programmable gate array, etc. (e.g., Intel® Pentium®processor). The main memory 1104 may be a dynamic random access memoryand/or a primary memory of a computer system.

The static memory 1106 may be a hard drive, a flash drive, and/or othermemory information associated with the data processing system. The bus1108 may be an interconnection between various circuits and/orstructures of the data processing system. The video display 1110 mayprovide graphical representation of information on the data processingsystem. The alpha-numeric input device 1112 may be a keypad, keyboardand/or any other input device of text (e.g., a special device to aid thephysically handicapped). The cursor control device 1114 may be apointing device such as a mouse.

The drive unit 1116 may be a hard drive, a storage system, and/or otherlonger term storage subsystem. The signal generation device 1118 may bea bios and/or a functional operating system of the data processingsystem. The machine readable medium 1122 may provide instructions onwhich any of the methods disclosed herein may be performed. Theinstructions 1124 may provide source code and/or data code to theprocessor 1102 to enable any one/or more operations disclosed herein.

FIG. 12A is a user interface view of mapping a user profile 1200 of thegeographic location 1204, according to one embodiment. In the exampleembodiment illustrated in FIG. 12A, the user profile 1200 may containthe information associated with the geographic location 1204. The userprofile 1200 may contain the information associated with the registereduser. The user profile 1200 may contain information such as address userof the specific geographic location, name of the occupant, profession ofthe occupant, details, phone number, educational qualification, etc.

The map 1202 may indicate the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) of the geographicallocation 1204, a wiki profile 1206 (e.g., the wiki profile 1302 of FIG.13A, the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17), and a delisted profile 1208. Thegeographical location 1204 may be associated with the user profile 1200.The wiki profile 1206 may be the wiki profile 1206 associated with theneighboring property surrounding the geographic location 1204. Thedelisted profile 1208 illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 12A, maybe the wiki profile 1206 that may be delisted when the registered userclaims the physical property. The block 1210 illustrated in the exampleembodiment of FIG. 12A may be associated with hobbies, personal likes,etc. The block 1216 may be associated with events, requirements, etc.that may be displayed by the members of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

For example, a verified registered user (e.g., a verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, a verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) maybe associated with a user profile 1200. The user profile 1200 may beassociated with a specific geographic location. A map concurrentlydisplaying the user profile 1200 and the specific geographic location1204 may be generated. Also, the wiki profiles 1206 associated withdifferent geographic locations surrounding the specific geographiclocation associated with the user profile 1200 may be simultaneouslygenerated in the map. In addition, a query of the user profile 1200and/or the specific geographic location may be processed.

Similarly, a tag data (e.g., the tags 1210 of FIG. 12A) associated withthe specific geographic locations, a particular geographic location, andthe delisted geographic location may be processed. A frequent one of thetag data (e.g., the tags 1210 of FIG. 12A) may be displayed when thespecific geographic location and/or the particular geographic locationis made active, but not when a geographic location is delisted.

FIG. 12B is a user interface view of mapping of the wiki profile 1206,according to one embodiment. In the example embodiment illustrated inFIG. 12B, the map 1202 may indicate the geographic locations in theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) and/or may also indicate the geographiclocation of the wiki profile 1206. The wiki profile 1206 may display theinformation associated with the registered user of the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1). The link claim this profile 1212 may enable the registereduser to claim the wiki profile 1206 and/or may also allow the verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13) toedit any information in the wiki profiles 1206. The block 1214 maydisplay the information posted by any of the verified registered users(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) of the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

For example, a particular wiki profile (e.g., the particular wikiprofile may be associated with a neighboring property to the specificproperty in the neighborhood) of the wiki profiles (e.g., the wikiprofile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17) may beconverted to another user profile (e.g., the user profile may be tied toa specific property in a neighborhood) when a different registered user(e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) claims a particular geographic locationto the specific geographic location associated with the particular wikiprofile.

In addition, a certain wiki profile of the wiki profiles may be delistedwhen a private registered user claims a certain geographic location(e.g., the geographical location 1204 of FIG. 12A) adjacent to thespecific geographic location and/or the particular geographic location.Also, the certain wiki profile in the map 1202 may be masked when thecertain wiki profile is delisted through the request of the privateregistered user.

Furthermore, a tag data (e.g., the tags 1210 of FIG. 12A) associatedwith the specific geographic location, the particular geographiclocation, and the delisted geographic location may be processed. Afrequent one of the tag data may be displayed when the specificgeographic location and/or the particular geographic location are madeactive, but not when a geographic location is delisted.

Moreover, the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16)may be permitted to edit any information in the wiki profiles 1206including the particular wiki profile 1206 and/or the certain wikiprofile until the certain wiki profile may be claimed by the differentregistered user and/or the private registered user. In addition, aclaimant of any wiki profile 1206 may be enabled to control whatinformation is displayed on their user profile. Also, the claimant maybe allowed to segregate certain information on their user profile 1200such that only other registered users directly connected to the claimantare able to view data on their user profile 1200.

FIG. 13A is a user interface view of mapping of a wiki profile 1302 ofthe commercial user 1300, according to one embodiment. In the exampleembodiment illustrated in FIG. 13A, the commercial user 1300 may beassociated with the customizable business profile 1304 located in thecommercial geographical location. The wiki profile 1302 may contain theinformation associated with the commercial user 1300. The wiki profile1302 may contain the information such as address, name, profession, tag,details (e.g., ratings), and educational qualification etc. of thecommercial user 1300. The verified registered user 1310 may be userassociated with the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) and may communicate a message tothe neighborhood commercial user 1300. For example, a payment of thecommercial user 1300 and the verified registered user 1310 may beprocessed.

FIG. 13B is a user interface view of mapping of customizable businessprofile 1304 of the commercial user 1300, according to one embodiment.In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13B, the commercial user1300 may be associated with the customizable business profile 1304. Thecustomizable business profile 1304 may be profile of any business firm(e.g., restaurant, hotels, supermarket, etc.) that may containinformation such as address, occupant name, profession of thecustomizable business. The customizable business profile 1304 may alsoenable the verified registered user 1310 to place online order for theproducts.

For example, the commercial user 1300 may be permitted to purchase acustomizable business profile 1304 associated with a commercialgeographic location. Also, the verified registered user 1310 may beenabled to communicate a message to the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) based on aselectable distance range away from the specific geographic location. Inaddition, a payment of the commercial user 1300 and/or the verifiedregistered user 1310 may be processed.

A target advertisement 1306 may display the information associated withthe offers and/or events of the customizable business. The displayadvertisement 1308 may display ads of the products of the customizablebusiness that may be displayed to urge the verified registered user 1310to buy the products of the customizable business. The verifiedregistered user 1310 may be user associated with the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1)that may communicate a message to the commercial user 1300 and/or may beinterested in buying the products of the customizable business.

FIG. 14 is a user interface view of a group view 1402 associated withparticular geographical location, according to one embodiment.Particularly FIG. 14 illustrates, a map 1400, a groups view 1402,according to one embodiment. In the example embodiment illustrated inFIG. 14, the map view 1400 may display map view of the geographicallocation of the specific group of the global neighborhood environment(e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The groupsview 1402 may contain the information (e.g., address, occupant, etc.)associated with the particular group of the specific geographicallocation (e.g., the geographical location displayed in the map 1400) ofthe global neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1). The members 1404 may contain the informationabout the members associated with the group (e.g., the group associatedwith geographical location displayed in the map) of the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1).

FIG. 15 is a user interface view of claim view 1550, according to oneembodiment. The claim view 1550 may enable the user to claim thegeographical location of the registered user. Also, the claim view 1550may facilitate the user of the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) to claim thegeographical location of property under dispute.

In the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 15, the operation 1502 mayallow the registered user of the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) to claim the addressof the geographic location claimed by the registered user. The operation1504 illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 15, may enable the userto delist the claim of the geographical location. The operation 1506 mayoffer information associated with the document to be submitted by theregistered users of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) to claim the geographicallocation.

FIG. 16 is a user interface view of a building builder 1602, accordingto one embodiment. Particularly the FIG. 16 illustrates, a map 1600, abuilding builder 1602, according to one embodiment. The map 1600 maydisplay the geographical location in which the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B) may createand/or modify empty wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 of FIG.12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 ofFIG. 17), building layouts, social network pages, and floor levelsstructures housing residents and businesses in the neighborhood (e.g.,the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1). The building builder 1602 may enablethe verified registered users (e.g., the verified registered user 1310of FIG. 13A-B) of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) to draw floor level structures,add neighbor's profiles and/or may also enable to select the floornumber, wiki type, etc. as illustrated in example embodiment of FIG. 16.

The verified registered user 1310 may be verified registered user of theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) interested in creating and/or modifying wikiprofiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17), building layouts,social network pages, and floor level structure housing residents andbusinesses in the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1)in the building builder 1602.

For example, a social community module (e.g., a social community module106 of FIG. 1) of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) may generate a building creator(e.g., the building builder 1602 of FIG. 16) in which the registeredusers may create and/or modify empty wiki profiles (e.g., the wikiprofile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, thewiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17), building layouts, social network pages,and floor levels structures housing residents and/or businesses in theneighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1).

FIG. 17 is a systematic view of communication of wiki data, according toone embodiment. Particularly FIG. 17 illustrates a map 1701, verifieduser profile 1702, choices 1708 and a new wiki page 1706, according toone embodiment. The map 1701 may locate the details of the address ofthe registered user of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The verified userprofile 1702 may store the profiles of the verified user of the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1. The wiki profile 1704 may be the profiles of the registereduser who may claim them in the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

In operation 1700 the search for the user profile (e.g., the userprofile 1200 of FIG. 12A) is been carried whom the registered user maybe searching. The new wiki page 1706 may solicit for the details of auser whom the registered user is searching for in the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1). The choices 1708 may ask whether the requested search is anyamong the displayed names. The new wiki page 1706 may request for thedetails of location such as country, state and/or city. The operation1700 may communicate with the choices 1708, and the new wiki page 1706.

For example, a no-match module (e.g., a no-match module 312 of FIG. 3)of the search module (e.g., the search module 108 of FIG. 1) to requestadditional information from the verified registered user about a person,place, and business having no listing in the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1)when no matches are found in a search query of the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B), and tocreate a new wiki page 1706 based on a response of the verifiedregistered user 1702 about the at least one person, place, and businessnot previously indexed in the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

FIG. 18 is a systematic view of a network view 1850, according to oneembodiment. Particularly it may include a GUI display 1802, a GUIdisplay 1804, user interface 1806, a user interface 1808, a network1810, a router 1812, a switch 1814, a firewall 1816, a load balancer1818, an application server#1 1824, a web application server 1826, aninter-process communication 1828, a computer server 1830, an imageserver 1832, a multiple servers 1834, a switch 1836, a database storage1838, database software 1840 and a mail server 1842, according to oneembodiment.

The GUI display 1802 and GUI display 1804 may display particular case ofuser interface for interacting with a device capable of representingdata (e.g., computer, cellular telephones, television sets etc) whichemploys graphical images and widgets in addition to text to representthe information and actions available to the user (e.g., the user 116 ofFIG. 1). The user interface 1806 and user interface 1808 may be anydevice capable of presenting data (e.g., computer, cellular telephones,television sets etc). The network 1810 may be any collection of networks(e.g., internet, private networks, university social system, privatenetwork of a company etc) that may transfer any data to the user (e.g.,the user 116 of FIG. 1) and the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The router 1812 may forward packets between networks and/or informationpackets between the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) and registered user over thenetwork (e.g., internet). The switch 1814 may act as a gatekeeper to andfrom the network (e.g., internet) and the device. The firewall 1816 mayprovides protection (e.g., permit, deny or proxy data connections) fromunauthorized access to the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1. The load balancer 1818may balance the traffic load across multiple mirrored servers in theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) and may be used to increase the capacity of aserver farm beyond that of a single server and/or may allow the serviceto continue even in the face of server down time due to server failureand/or server maintenance.

The application server 1822 may be server computer on a computer networkdedicated to running certain software applications of the globalneighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100of FIG. 1). The web application server 1826 may be server holding allthe web pages associated with the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The inter-processcommunication 1828 may be set of rules for organizing and un-organizingfactors and results regarding the global neighborhood environment (e.g.,the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The computer server1830 may serve as the application layer in the multiple servers of theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) and/or may include a central processing unit(CPU), a random access memory (RAM) temporary storage of information,and/or a read only memory (ROM) for permanent storage of informationregarding the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

The image server 1832 may store and provide digital images of theregistered user of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the globalneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1). The multiple servers 1834 maybe multiple computers or devices on a network that may manages networkresources connecting the registered user and the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).The database storage 1838 may store software, descriptive data, digitalimages, system data and any other data item that may be related to theuser (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).The database software 1840 may be provided a database management systemthat may support the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theneighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1. The mail server 1842 may beprovided for sending, receiving and storing mails. The user interface1806 and 1808 may communicate with the GUI display(s) 1802 and 1804, therouter 1812 through the network 1810 and the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1).

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a database, according to one embodiment.Particularly the block diagram of the database 1900 of FIG. 19illustrates a user data 1902, a location data, a zip codes data 1906, aprofiles data 1908, a photos data 1910, a testimonials data 1912, asearch parameters data 1914, a neighbor data 1916, a friends requestsdata 1918, a invites data 1920, a bookmarks data 1922, a messages data1924 and a bulletin board data 1926, according to one embodiment.

The database 1900 be may include descriptive data, preference data,relationship data, and/or other data items regarding the registered userof the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1.

The user data 1902 may be a descriptive data referring to informationthat may describe a user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1). It may includeelements in a certain format for example Id may be formatted as integer,Firstname may be in text, Lastname may be in text, Email may be in text,Verify may be in integer, Password may be in text, Gender may be in m/f,Orientation may be in integer, Relationship may be in y/n, Dating may bein y/n, Friends may be in y/n, Activity may be in y/n, Status may be ininteger, Dob may be in date, Country may be in text, Zipcode may be intext, Postalcode may be in text, State may be in text, Province may bein text, City may be in text, Occupation may be in text, Location may bein text, Hometown may be in text, Photo may be in integer, Membersincemay be in date, Lastlogin may be in date, Lastupdate may be in date,Recruiter may be in integer, Friendcount may be in integer, Testimonialsmay be in integer, Weeklypdates may be in y/n, Notifications may be iny/n, Photomode may be in integer and/or Type may be in integer.

The locations data 1904 may clarify the location details in formattedapproach. For example Zip code may be formatted as integer, City may bein text and/or State may be in text. The zip codes data 1906 may provideinformation of a user location in formatted manner. For example Zip codemay be formatted as text, Latitude may be in integer and/or Longitudemay be in integer. The profile data 1908 may clutch personneldescriptive data that may be formatted.

For examples ID may be formatted as integer, Interests may be in text,Favoritemusic may be in text, Favaoritebooks may be in text, Favoritetvmay be in text, Favoritemovies may be in text, Aboutme may be in text,Wanttommet may be in text, Ethnicity may be in integer, Hair may be ininteger, Eyes may be in integer, Height may be in integer, Body may bein integer, Education may be in integer, Income may be in integer,Religion may be in integer, Politics may be in integer Smoking may be ininteger, Drinking may be in integer and/or Kids may be in integer.

The photos data 1910 may represent a digital image and/or a photographof the user formatted in certain approach. For example Id may beformatted as integer, User may be in integer, Fileid may be in integerand/or Moderation may be in integer. The testimonials data 1912 mayallow users to write “testimonials” 1912, or comments, about each otherand in these testimonials, users may describe their relationship to anindividual and their comments about that individual. For example theuser might write a testimonial that states “Rohan has been a friend ofmine since graduation days. He is smart, intelligent, and a talentedperson.” The elements of testimonials data 1912 may be formatted as Idmay be in integer, User may be in integer, Sender may be integer,Approved may be in y/n, Date may be in date and/or Body may be formattedin text.

The search parameters data 1914 may be preference data referring to thedata that may describe preferences one user has with respect to another(For example, the user may indicate that he is looking for a female whois seeking a male for a serious relationship). The elements of thesearch parameters data 1914 may be formatted as User 1902 may be ininteger, Photosonly may be in y/n, Justphotos may be in y/n, Male may bein y/n, Female may be in y/n, Men may be in y/n, Women may be in y/n,Helptohelp may be in y/n, Friends may be in y/n, Dating may be in y/n,Serious may be in y/n, Activity may be in y/n, Minage may be in integer,Maxage may be in integer, Distance may be in integer, Single may be iny/n, Relationship may be in y/n, Married may be in y/n and/orOpenmarriage may be in y/n.

The neighbor's data 1916 may generally refer to relationships amongregistered users of the global neighborhood environment (e.g., theglobal neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1) that have been verifiedand the user has requested another individual to join the system asneighbor 1916, and the request may be accepted. The elements of theneighbors data 1916 may be formatted as user1 may be in integer and/oruser2 may be in integer. The friend requests data 1918 may tracksrequests by users within the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-Nof FIG. 1) to other individuals, which requests have not yet beenaccepted and may contain elements originator and/or respondent formattedin integer. The invites data 1920 may describe the status of a requestby the user to invite an individual outside the neighborhood (e.g., theneighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1) to join the neighborhood (e.g., theneighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1) and clarify either the request has beenaccepted, ignored and/or pending.

The elements of the invites data 1920 may be formatted as Id may be ininteger, Key may be in integer, Sender may be in integer, Email may bein text, Date may be in date format, Clicked may be in y/n, Joined maybe in y/n and/or Joineduser may be in integer. The bookmarks data 1922may be provide the data for a process allowed wherein a registered userof the global neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) may indicate an interest in the profile ofanother registered user. The bookmark data 1922 elements may beformatted as Owner may be in integer, User may be in integer and/orVisible may be in y/n. The message data 1924 may allow the users to sendone another private messages.

The message data 1924 may be formatted as Id may be in integer, User maybe in integer, Sender may be in integer, New may be in y/n, Folder maybe in text, Date may be in date format, Subject may be in text and/orBody may be in text format. The bulletin board data 1926 may supportsthe function of a bulletin board that users may use to conduct onlinediscussions, conversation and/or debate. The wiki data 1928 may sharethe user profiles (e.g., the user profile 1200 of FIG. 12A) in theneighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1) and its elementsmay be formatted as wikisinputed and/or others may be in text format.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary graphical user interface view for datacollection, according to one embodiment. Particularly FIG. 20illustrates exemplary screens 2002, 2004 that may be provided to theuser (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) through an interface may be throughthe network (e.g., Internet), to obtain user descriptive data. Thescreen 2002 may collect data allowing the user (e.g., the user 116 ofFIG. 1) to login securely and be identified by the neighborhood (e.g.,the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1). This screen 2002 may allow the userto identify the reason he/she is joining the neighborhood. For example,a user may be joining the neighborhood for “neighborhood watch”. Thescreen 2004 may show example of how further groups may be joined. Forexample, the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) may be willing to joina group “Raj for city council”. It may also enclose the data concerningDob, country, zip/postal code, hometown, occupation and/or interest.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary graphical user interface view of imagecollection, according to one embodiment. A screen 2100 may be interfaceprovided to the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) over the network(e.g., internet) may be to obtain digital images from system user. Theinterface 2102 may allow the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) tobrowse files on his/her computer, select them, and then upload them tothe neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1). The user(e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) may upload the digital images and/orphoto that may be visible to people in the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor120 of FIG. 1) network and not the general public. The user may be ableto upload a JPG, GIF, PNG and/or BMP file in the screen 2100.

FIG. 22 is an exemplary graphical user interface view of an invitation,according to one embodiment. An exemplary screen 2200 may be provided toa user through a user interface 2202 may be over the network (e.g.,internet) to allow users to invite neighbor or acquaintances to join theneighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1). The userinterface 2202 may allow the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) toenter one or a plurality of e-mail addresses for friends they may liketo invite to the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1).The exemplary screen 2200 may include the “subject”, “From”, “To”,“Optional personnel message”, and/or “Message body” sections. In the“Subject” section a standard language text may be included for joiningthe neighborhood (e.g., Invitation to join Fatdoor from John Doe, aneighborhood).

The “From” section may include the senders email id (e.g.,user@domain.com). The “To” section may be provided to add the email idof the person to whom the sender may want to join the neighborhood(e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1). The message that may be sentto the friends and/or acquaintances may include standard languagedescribing the present neighborhood, the benefits of joining and thesteps required to join the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-Nof FIG. 1). The user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) may choose toinclude a personal message, along with the standard invitation in the“Optional personal message” section. In the “Message body” section theinvited friend or acquaintance may initiate the process to join thesystem by clicking directly on an HTML link included in the e-mailmessage (e.g., http://www.fatdoor.com/join.jsp? Invite=140807). In oneembodiment, the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) may import e-mailaddresses from a standard computerized address book. The system mayfurther notify the inviting user when her invitee accepts or declinesthe invitation to join the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-Nof FIG. 1).

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of inviting the invitee(s) by the registereduser, notifying the registered user upon the acceptance of theinvitation by the invitee(s) and, processing and storing the input dataassociated with the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) in the database,according to one embodiment. In operation 2302, the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) willing to invite theindividual enters the email addresses of an individual “invitee”. Inoperation 2304, the email address and the related data of the inviteemay be stored in the database. In operation 2306, the invitation contentfor inviting the invitee may be generated from the data stored in thedatabase. In operation 2308, the registered user sends invitation to theinvitee(s).

In operation 2310, response from the user (e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1)may be determined. The operation 2312, if the invitee doesn't respond toinvitation sent by the registered user then registered user may resendthe invitation for a predefined number of times. In operation 2314, ifthe registered user resends the invitation to the same invitee forpredefined number of times and if the invitee still doesn't respond tothe invitation the process may be terminated automatically.

In operation 2316, if the invitee accepts the invitation sent by theregistered user then system may notify the registered user that theinvitee has accepted the invitation. In operation 2318, the input fromthe present invitee(s) that may contain the descriptive data about thefriend (e.g., registered user) may be processed and stored in thedatabase.

For example, each registered user associated e-mail addresses ofindividuals who are not registered users may be stored and identified byeach registered user as neighbors. An invitation to become a new user(e.g., the user 116 of FIG. 1) may be communicated out to neighbor(e.g., the neighbors neighbor of FIG. 1) of the particular user. Anacceptance of the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) to whomthe invitation was sent may be processed.

The neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) may be added to adatabase and/or storing of the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG.1), a user ID and a set of user IDs of registered users who are directlyconnected to the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1), the set ofuser IDs stored of the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1)including at least the user ID of the verified registered user (e.g.,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16). Furthermore, the verified registered user may benotified that the invitation to the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1) has been accepted when an acceptance is processed. Also, inputsfrom the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) having descriptivedata about the friend may be processed and the inputs in the databasemay be stored.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of adding the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1) to the queue, according to one embodiment. In operation 2402,the system may start with the empty connection list and empty queue. Inoperation 2404, the user may be added to the queue. In operation 2406,it is determined whether the queue is empty. In operation 2408, if it isdetermined that the queue is not empty then the next person P may betaken from the queue. In operation 2410, it may be determined whetherthe person P from the queue is user B or not. In operation 2412, if theperson P is not user B then it may be determined whether the depth ofthe geographical location is less than maximum degrees of separation.

If it is determined that depth is more than maximum allowable degrees ofseparation then it may repeat the operation 2408. In operation 2414, ifmay be determined that the depth of the geographical location (e.g., thegeographical location 1204 of FIG. 12A) is less than maximum degrees ofseparation then the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) listfor person P may be processed. In operation 2416, it may be determinedwhether all the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) in theneighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-N of FIG. 1) have beenprocessed or not. If all the friends are processed it may be determinedthe queue is empty.

In operation 2418, if all the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1) for person P are not processed then next neighbor N may be takenfrom the list. In operation 2420, it may be determined whether theneighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) N has encountered before ornot. In operation 2422, if the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1) has not been encountered before then the neighbor may be addedto the queue. In operation 2424, if the neighbor N has been encounteredbefore it may be further determined whether the geographical location(e.g., the geographical location 1204 of FIG. 12A) from where theneighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) has encountered previouslyis the same place or closer to that place.

If it is determined that the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1)has encountered at the same or closer place then the friend may be addedto the queue. If it may be determined that friend is not encountered atthe same place or closer to that place then it may be again checked thatall the friends have processed. In operation 2426, if it is determinedthat the person P is user B than the connection may be added to theconnection list and after adding the connection to connection list itfollows the operation 2412. In operation 2428, if it may be determinedthat queue is empty then the operation may return the connections list.

For example, a first user ID with the verified registered user (e.g.,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16) and a second user ID may be applied to thedifferent registered user. The verified registered user (e.g., theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16) with the different registered user may beconnected with each other through at least one of a geo-positioning dataassociated with the first user ID and the second user ID. In addition, amaximum degree of separation (Nmax) of at least two that is allowed forconnecting any two registered users, (e.g., the two registered users whomay be directly connected may be deemed to be separated by one degree ofseparation and two registered users who may be connected through no lessthan one other registered user may be deemed to be separated by twodegrees of separation and two registered users who may be connectedthrough not less than N other registered users may be deemed to beseparated by N+1 degrees of separation).

Furthermore, the user ID of the different registered user may besearched (e.g., the method limits the searching of the differentregistered user in the sets of user IDs that may be stored as registeredusers who are less than Nmax degrees of separation away from theverified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16), such that theverified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and thedifferent registered user who may be separated by more than Nmax degreesof separation are not found and connected.) in a set of user IDs thatmay be stored of registered users who are less than Nmax degrees ofseparation away from the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16), and not in the sets of user IDs that may be stored forregistered users who are greater than or equal to Nmax degrees ofseparation away from the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16), until the user ID of the different registered user may befound in one of the searched sets. Also, the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may be connected to the differentregistered user if the user ID of the different registered user may befound in one of the searched sets.

Moreover, the sets of user IDs that may be stored of registered usersmay be searched initially who are directly connected to the verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16). A profile of thedifferent registered user may be communicated to the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) to display through a markerassociating the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16)with the different registered user. A connection path between theverified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and thedifferent registered user, the connection path indicating at least oneother registered user may be stored through whom the connection pathbetween the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) andthe different registered user is made.

In addition, the connection path between the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and the different registered user maybe communicated to the verified registered user to display. A hyperlinkin the connection path of each of the at least one registered users maybe embedded through whom the connection path between the verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and the differentregistered user is made.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of communicating brief profiles of the registeredusers, processing a hyperlink selection from the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and calculating and ensuringthe Nmax degree of separation of the registered users away from verifiedregistered users (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16), according to oneembodiment. In operation 2502, the data of the registered users may becollected from the database. In operation 2504, the relational pathbetween the first user and the second user may be calculated (e.g., theNmax degree of separation between verified registered user (e.g., theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16) and the registered user).

For example, the brief profiles of registered users, including a briefprofile of the different registered user, to the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) for display, each of the briefprofiles including a hyperlink to a corresponding full profile may becommunicated.

Furthermore, the hyperlink selection from the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may be processed (e.g., upon processingthe hyperlink selection of the full profile of the different registereduser, the full profile of the different registered user may becommunicated to the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) for display). In addition, the brief profiles of thoseregistered users may be ensured who are more than Nmax degrees ofseparation away from the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) are not communicated to the verified registered user (e.g., theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16) for display.

FIG. 26 is an N degree separation view, according to one embodiment. MEmay be a verified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) of theglobal neighborhood environment (e.g., the global neighborhoodenvironment 100 of FIG. 1) centered in the neighborhood network. A, B,C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, 0, P, Q, R, S, T, and/or U may bethe other registered user of the neighborhood network. The member of theneighborhood network may be separated from the centered verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) ME of the neighborhoodnetwork by certain degree of separation. The registered user A, B and Cmay be directly connected and are deemed to be separated by one degreeof separation from verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) ME. The registered user D, E, F, G, and H may be connectedthrough no less than one other registered user may be deemed to beseparated by two degree of separation from verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) ME. The registered user I, J, K, and Lmay be connected through no less than N−1 other registered user may bedeemed to be separated by N degree of separation from verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) ME. The registered user M,N, 0, P, Q, R S, T and U may be all registered user.

FIG. 27 is a user interface view showing a map, according to oneembodiment. Particularly FIG. 27 illustrates a satellite photo of aphysical world. The registered user of the global neighborhoodenvironment (e.g., the global neighborhood environment 100 of FIG. 1)may use this for exploring the geographical location (e.g., thegeographical location 1204 of FIG. 12A) of the neighbors (e.g., theneighbor 120 of FIG. 1). The registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) may navigate, zoom, explore and quickly find particular desiredgeographical locations of the desired neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120of FIG. 1). This may help the registered user to read the map an/or plotthe route of the neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) on theworld map.

FIG. 28A is a process flow of searching map based community andneighborhood contribution, according to one embodiment. In operation2802, a verified registered user (e.g., a verified registered user 1310of FIG. 13A-13B, a verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may beassociated with a user profile (e.g., a user profile 1200 of FIG. 12A).In operation 2804, the user profile (e.g., the user profile 1200 of FIG.12A) may be associated with a specific geographic location (e.g., ageographic location 1204 of FIG. 12A).

In operation 2806, a map (e.g., a map 1202 of FIG. 12A-12B, a map 1400of FIG. 14, a map 1600 of FIG. 16, a map 1701 of FIG. 17) may begenerated concurrently displaying the user profile (e.g., the userprofile 1200 of FIG. 12A) and the specific geographic location (e.g.,the geographic location 1204 of FIG. 12A). In operation, 2808, in themap, wiki profiles (e.g., a wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-B, a wikiprofile 1302 of FIG. 13A, a wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17) associatedwith different geographic locations may be simultaneously generatedsurrounding the specific geographic location (e.g., the geographiclocation 1204 of FIG. 12A) associated with the user profile (e.g., theuser profile 1200 of FIG. 12A).

In operation 2810, a query of at least one of the user profile (e.g.,the user profile 1200 of FIG. 12A) and the specific geographic location(e.g., the geographic location 1204 of FIG. 12A) may be processed. Inoperation 2812, a particular wiki profile of the wiki profiles (e.g.,the wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A,the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17) may be converted to another userprofile (e.g., the user profile 1200 of FIG. 12A) when a differentregistered user claims a particular geographic location to the specificgeographic location (e.g., the geographic location 1204 of FIG. 12A)associated with the particular wiki profile (e.g., the wiki profile 1206of FIG. 12A-B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704of FIG. 17), wherein the user profile (e.g., the user profile 1200 ofFIG. 12A) may be tied to a specific property in a neighborhood (e.g., aneighborhood 102A-102N of FIG. 1), and wherein the particular wikiprofile (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 of FIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 of FIG. 17) may be associatedwith a neighboring property to the specific property in the neighborhood(e.g., the neighborhood 120A-120N of FIG. 1).

In operation 2814, a certain wiki profile (e.g., the wiki profile 1206of FIG. 12A-12B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile1704 of FIG. 17) of the wiki profiles (e.g., the wiki profile 1206 ofFIG. 12A-B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704 ofFIG. 17) may be delisted when a private registered user claims a certaingeographic location (e.g., the geographic location 1204 of FIG. 12A)adjacent to at least one of the specific geographic location and theparticular geographic location (e.g., the geographic location 1204 ofFIG. 12A).

In operation 2816, the certain wiki profile (e.g., the wiki profile 1206of FIG. 12A-B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wiki profile 1704of FIG. 17) in the map (e.g., the map 1202 of FIG. 12A-B, the map 1400of FIG. 14, the map 1600 of FIG. 16, the map 1701 of FIG. 17) when thecertain wiki profile may be delisted and/or be masked through therequest of the private registered user.

FIG. 28B is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28A showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment. In operation 2818, atag data associated with at least one of the specific geographiclocation, the particular geographic location (e.g., the geographiclocation 1204 of FIG. 12A), and the delisted geographic location may beprocessed. In operation 2820, a frequent one of the tag data may bedisplayed when at least one of the specific geographic location and theparticular geographic location (e.g., the geographic location 1204 ofFIG. 12A) may be made active, but not when the geographic location(e.g., the geographic location 1204 of FIG. 12A) may be delisted.

In operation 2822, a commercial user (e.g., a commercial user 1300 ofFIG. 13A-B) may be permitted to purchase a customizable business profile(e.g., a customizable business profile 1304 of FIG. 13B) associated witha commercial geographic location. In operation 2824, the verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) to communicate a messageto the neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood 102A-102N of FIG. 1) may beenabled based on a selectable distance range away from the specificgeographic location.

In operation 2826, a payment of the commercial user (e.g., thecommercial user 1300 of FIG. 13A-B) and the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may be processed. In operation 2828,the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may bepermitted to edit any information in the wiki profiles (e.g., the wikiprofile 1206 of FIG. 12A-B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wikiprofile 1704 of FIG. 17) including the particular wiki profile and thecertain wiki profile until the certain wiki profile may be claimed by atleast one of the different registered user and the private registereduser.

In operation 2830, a claimant of any wiki profile (e.g., the wikiprofile 1206 of FIG. 12A-B, the wiki profile 1302 of FIG. 13A, the wikiprofile 1704 of FIG. 17) may be enabled to control what information isdisplayed on their user profile (e.g., the user profile 1200 of FIG.12A). In operation 2832, the claimant to segregate certain informationon their user profile (e.g., the user profile 1200 of FIG. 12A) may beallowed such that only other registered users directly connected to theclaimant are able to view data on their user profile (e.g., the userprofile 1200 of FIG. 12A).

FIG. 28C is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28B showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment. In operation 2834, afirst user ID with the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) and a second user ID to the different registered user may beapplied. In operation 2836, the verified registered user (e.g., theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16) with the different registered user with each othermay be connected through at least one of associated with the first userID and the second user ID.

In operation 2838, a maximum degree of separation (Nmax) of at least twomay be set that is allowed for connecting any two registered users,wherein two registered users who are directly connected may be deemed tobe separated by one degree of separation and two registered users whoare connected through no less than one other registered user may bedeemed to be separated by two degrees of separation and two registeredusers who may be connected through no less than N other registered usersare deemed to be separated by N+1 degrees of separation. In operation2840, the user ID of the different registered user may be searched in aset of user IDs that are stored of registered users who are less thanNmax degrees of separation away from the verified registered user (e.g.,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16), and not in the sets of user IDs that are storedfor registered users who may be greater than or equal to Nmax degrees ofseparation away from the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16), until the user ID of the different registered user may befound in one of the searched sets.

In operation 2842, the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) may be connected to the different registered user if the userID of the different registered user may be found in one of the searchedsets, wherein the method limits the searching of the differentregistered user in the sets of user IDs that may be stored of registeredusers who may be less than Nmax degrees of separation away from theverified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16), such that theverified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and thedifferent registered user who may be separated by more than Nmax degreesof separation are not found and connected. In operation 2844, initiallyin the sets of user IDs that are stored of registered users who may bedirectly connected to the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) may be initially searched.

FIG. 28D is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28C showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment. In operation 2846, aprofile of the different registered user to the verified registered user(e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 16) to display may be communicated througha marker associating the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) with the different registered user.

In operation 2848, a connection path between the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and the different registereduser, the connection path indicating at least one other registered usermay be stored through whom the connection path between the verifiedregistered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B,the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and the differentregistered user may be made.

In operation 2850, the connection path between the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) and the different registereduser to the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may becommunicated to display.

In operation 2852, a hyperlink in the connection path of each of the atleast one registered users may be embedded through whom the connectionpath between the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16)and the different registered user may be made. In operation 2854, eachregistered user associated e-mail addresses of individuals who are notregistered users may be stored and identified by each registered user asneighbors (e.g., a neighbor 120 of FIG. 1).

In operation 2856, an invitation may be communicated to become a newuser (e.g., a user 116 of FIG. 1) to neighbors (e.g., the neighbor 120of FIG. 1) of the particular user. In operation 2858, an acceptance ofthe neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) to whom the invitationwas sent may be processed. In operation 2860, the neighbor (e.g., theneighbor 120 of FIG. 1) to a database and storing of the neighbor (e.g.,the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1), a user ID and the set of user IDs ofregistered users may be added who are directly connected to the neighbor(e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1), the set of user IDs stored of theneighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) including at least the userID of the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16).

FIG. 28E is a continuation of process flow of FIG. 28D showingadditional processes, according to one embodiment. In operation 2862,the verified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) that theinvitation to the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 of FIG. 1) has beenaccepted may be notified when the acceptance is processed.

In operation 2864, inputs from the neighbor (e.g., the neighbor 120 ofFIG. 1) having descriptive data about the friend and storing the inputsin the database may be processed. In operation 2866, brief profiles ofregistered users, including a brief profile of the different registereduser may be communicated, to the verified registered user (e.g., theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registereduser 1310 of FIG. 16) for display, each of the brief profiles includingthe hyperlink to a corresponding full profile.

In operation 2868, the hyperlink selection from the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may be processed, wherein,upon processing the hyperlink selection of the full profile of thedifferent registered user, the full profile of the different registereduser is communicated to the verified registered user (e.g., the verifiedregistered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 16) for display.

In operation 2870, brief profiles of those registered users who may bemore than Nmax degrees of separation away from the verified registereduser (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 13A-B, theverified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may not communicated to theverified registered user (e.g., the verified registered user 1310 ofFIG. 13A-B, the verified registered user 1310 of FIG. 16) may be ensuredfor display.

People in suburbia and urban cities now may not even know who theirneighbors are. Communities have become more insular. There may be a fewactive people in each neighborhood who know about their neighborhood andare willing to share what they know with others. They should be able toshare this information with others through the Internet. Many peoplewant to know who their neighbors are and express themselves and theirfamilies through the internet. People want to also know aboutrecommendations and what kind of civic and cultural things are in theneighborhood. What is contemplated includes: A social network for peoplewho want to get to know their neighbors and/or neighborhoods.Particularly, one in which a set of maps of neighborhoods (e.g., such asthose on Zillow.com or provided through Google® or Microsoft®) are usedas a basis on which a user can identify themselves with a particularaddress. This address may be verified through one or more of the moduleson FIG. 1. Particularly, this address may be the current address of theuser is living, a previous address where the user used to live, etc.

The address may be verified through a credit check of the user, or acopy of the user's drivers license. Once the user is approved in aparticular home/location, the user can leave their comments about theirhome. They can mark their home information proprietary, so that no oneelse can contribute to their info without their permission. They canhave separate private and public sections, in which the private sectionis shared with only verified addresses of neighbors, and the publicsection is shared with anybody viewing their profile. The user can thencreate separate social networking pages for homes, churches, locations,etc. surrounding his verified address. As such, the user can expresshim/herself through their profile, and contribute information about whatthey're neighborhood is like and who lives there. Only verifiedindividuals or entities might be able to view information in thatneighborhood.

The more information the user contributes, the higher his or her statuswill be in the neighborhood through a marker (e.g., a number of stars),or through additional services offered to the neighbor, such as theability to search a profiles of neighbors in a larger distance rangefrom a verified address of the user. For example, initially, the usermay only be able to search profiles within 1 mile on their principal,current home after being verified as living in there. When they create aprofiles for themselves and/or contribute profiles of other people, theymay widen their net of private profiles they may be allowed to search(e.g., because they become a trusted party in the neighborhood byoffering civic information). Neighbors can leave feedback for eachother, and arrange private block parties, etc. through their privateprofile. All these features may possible through one or more of theembodiments and/or modules illustrated in FIGS. 1-28. Through theirpublic profile, neighbors can know if there is a doctor living down thestreet, or an attorney around the corner. The FIGS. 1-28 illustratevarious embodiments that may be realized. While a description is givenhere, a self-evident description can be derived for the software andvarious methods, software, and hardware directly from the attachedFigures.

A neighborhood expression and user contribution system is disclosed. Inone aspect, the technology allows users to see the value of millions ofhomes across the United States and/or the world, not just those that theuser themselves own or live in, because they can share information abouttheir neighbors. People living in apartments or condos can use theapartment/condo modeler wizard (e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 1) tocreate models (e.g. 2 or 3d) of their building and share informationabout their apartment/home and of their neighbors with others. Thetechnology has an integrated targeted advertising system for enablingadvertisers to make money through the social community module 100 bydelivering targeted and non-targeted advertisements.

Aside from giving user generated content of information of homes, thesystem may also provide value estimates of homes it may also offersseveral unique features including value changes of each home in a giventime frame (e.g. 1, 5, or 10 years) and aerial views of homes as well asthe price of the surrounding homes in the area. It may also providesbasic data of a given home such as square footage and the number ofbedrooms and bathrooms. Users may can also obtain current estimates ofhomes if there was a significant change made such as recently modeledkitchen.

In the example systems and methods illustrated in FIGS. 1-28, neighborsmay get to know each other and their surrounding businesses more easilythrough the Internet. The user interface view of the social communitymodule may include a searchable map interface and/or a social networkingpage on the right when one clicks a particular home/location. The mapinterface may/may not include information about prices of a home, orinformation about the number of bedrooms of a home, etc. In essence,certain critical input information may be divided as follows:

Residential location: (1) name of the persons/family living in thatresidence (2) Their profession if any 3) Their educational background ifany (4) Their recreational interests (5) About their family descriptionbox (6) Anything else people want to post about that person includingtheir interests, hobbies, etc. (7) An ability for users to leaveendorsements.

Business location or civic location (e.g., park, govt. building, church,etc.): (1) name of the business/location (2) email of the manager of thebusiness/location (3) phone number of the business/location if known (4)anything else people want to say about the business (good or bad), forexample, contributable through a wiki.

These two will be the primary types. Various features differentiateexample embodiments of the social community module from other socialnetworks. These differentiators include (1) interface driven by address(2) maps that can be viewed, zoomed in on, tied to a parcel #, etc. (3)Anyone can populate anyone's social network page. (4) Anybody can postin one of the boxes. They can post anonymously or publicly (5) Ifsomeone wants to override information that already has been established,they will need to have an identity (e.g., user name), to overridepublished posting information.

However, according to one embodiment, if an owner of an entity locationwishes to mark their location private, and uneditable by the publicwithout their permission, they will need to pay (e.g., a monthly fixedfee) through the social community module. Alternatively, the owner ofthe entity location may not need to pay to mark the location as privateand uneditable by the public without the owner's permission. Exampleembodiments of the social community module may feature info aboutbusinesses. They may also feature info about people that live in thehomes, and may/may not display information on prices, number ofbedrooms, etc.

The social community module (e.g., as described in FIG. 1) may be asearch engine (e.g., Google®, Yahoo®, etc.) that uses maps (e.g.,satellite map views) instead of text displays to show information, userprofiles, reviews, promotions, ads, directions, events, etc. relevant touser searches.

The example systems and methods illustrated in FIGS. 1-28 may facilitatea social network membership that spreads virally by users inviting theirfriends. For example, every person that registers has their own profile,but registration may not be required to contribute content. However,registration may be required to “own” content on your own home, and haveoverride permission to delete things that you don't like about yourselflisted about you by others. In one embodiment, the social communitymodule may need to confirm the user's identity and address (e.g., usingdigital signature tools, drivers license verification, etc.), and/or theuser may need to pay a monthly fixed fee (e.g., through a credit card)to control their identity.

For example, they can get a rebate, and not have to pay the monthly feefor a particular month, if they invite at least 15 people that month ANDcontribute information about at least 10 of their neighbors, friends,civic, or business locations in their neighborhood. People can post picsof their family, their business, their home, etc. on their profile oncethey ‘own’ their home and register. In another embodiment, endorsementsfor neighbors by others will be published automatically. People cansearch for other people by descriptors (e.g., name, profession, distanceaway from me, etc.)

Profiles of users may be created and/or generated on the fly, e.g., whenone clicks on a home.

People may be able to visually see directions to their neighborhoodbusinesses, rather than reading directions through text in a firstphase. After time, directions (e.g., routes) can be offered as well.Users can leave their opinions on businesses, but the social communitymodule also enables users to leave opinions on neighbors, occupants orany entity having a profile on the map display. The social communitymodule may not attempt to restrict freedom of speech by the users, butmay voluntarily delete slanderous, libelous information on the requestof an owner manually at any time.

In one embodiment, the methods and systems illustrated in FIGS. 1-28enable people to search for things they want e.g. nearby pizzas etc.(e.g., by distance away). Advertisers can ‘own’ their listing by placinga display ad on nextdoor.com. Instead of click-through revenues whensomeone leaves the site, revenues will be realized when the link isclicked and someone views a preview html on the right of the visual map.Targeted advertisements may also be placed when someone searches aparticular street, name, city, etc.

In another example embodiment, the social community module may enableusers of the social network to populate profiles for apartments,buildings, condos, etc. People can create floors, layout, etc. of theirbuilding, and add social network pages on the fly when they click on alocation that has multiple residents, tenants, or lessees.

A user interface associated with the social community module 100 may beclean, simple, and uncluttered (e.g., Simple message of “get to knowyour neighbors”). For example, the map interface shows neighbors.Methods and systems associated with the features described may focus onuser experience, e.g., ensuring a compelling message to invite friendsand/or others to join. A seed phase for implementation of the methodsand systems illustrated in FIGS. 1-28 may be identified for building amembership associated with the social community module.

For example, a user having extensive networks in a certain area (e.g., acity) may seed those communities as well. The social network mayencourage user expression, user content creation, ease of use on site toget maximum users/distribution as quickly as possible. In anotherembodiment, the social community module may ensure that infrastructureassociated with operation of the social community module (e.g., servers)are able to handle load (e.g., data traffic) and keep up with expectedgrowth.

For example, the user interface view illustrated in the various figuresshows an example embodiment of the social community module of FIG. 1.The user interface view may include a publicly editable profile wallsection allowing public postings that owners of the profile can edit.For example, any user may be able to post on an empty profile wall, buta user must claim the location to own the profile (e.g., may minimizebarriers to users posting comments on profile walls).

Names featured on the profile wall may be links to the user profiles onthe map (e.g., giving an immediate sense for the location of admirers(or detractors) relative to user location). In one embodiment, an action(e.g., mouse-over) on a comment would highlight the comment user's houseon the map and names linking to user profiles. The user interface viewmay also utilize the mapping interface to link comments to locations.

For example, the various embodiments illustrate a comment announcing agarage sale, that is tied to a mappable location on the mappinginterface. (e.g., allows people to browse references directly frompeople's profiles). In the various figures, an example display of themapping interface is illustrated. In this example display, houses areshown in green, a church is shown in white, the red house shows theselected location and/or the profile owner's house, question marksindicate locations without profile owners, blue buildings are commerciallocations, and the pink building represents an apartment complex.

Houses with stars indicate people associated with (e.g., “friends”) ofthe current user. In one embodiment, a user action (e.g., mouse-over) ona commercial property displayed in the mapping interface may pull up astar (e.g., “***) rating based on user reviews, and/or a link to theprofile for the property. A mouse-over action on the apartment complexmay pull up a building schematic for the complex with floor plans, onwhich the user can see friends/profiles for various floors or rooms.Question marks indicated in the display may prompt users to own thatprofile or post comments on the wall for that space. A user action onany house displayed in the mapping interface may pull up a profile link,summary info such as status, profession, interests, etc. associated withthe profile owner, a link to add the person as a friend, and/or a linkto send a message to the user (e.g., the profile owner).

In another embodiment, a default profile view shown is that of thecurrent user (e.g., logged in), and if the user clicks on any otherprofile, it may show their profile in that space instead (with few textchanges to indicate different person). The events in your area view ofthe profile display in may have a default radius for notification ofevents (e.g., by street, by block, by neighborhood, county, etc.) Eventsare associated with user profiles and may link to locations displayed onthe mapping interfaces. The hot picks section may be an ad/promotionalzone, with default settings for radius of alerts also configurable.

For example, the “Find a Friend” section may permit users to search byname, address, interests, status, profession, favorite movies/music/foodetc. Users are also able to search within a given radius of theirlocation. In one embodiment, the user interface view may include a linkfor the user to invite other people to join the network (e.g., mayencourage users who see a question-mark on a house or a location on themapping interface that corresponds to a real location associated withsomeone they know to contact that person and encourage them to join andown that profile through the social community module).

Some of the reasons we believe these embodiments are unique include:

Search engine that provides a visual map (e.g., rather than text)display of information relevant to user queries.

Users can search on the map for other people having certainprofessional, educational, personal, extracurricular, cultural,political and/or family etc. profiles or interests, within any locationrange.

Users can search for information on the map, that is accessible directlythrough profile displays. For example, the user may search forinformation about a certain subject and be directed to a profile ofanother user having information about the subject. Alternatively, theuser may view the search subject itself as a visible item (e.g., ifapplicable to the search query) having a profile on the map display,along with additional information associated with the item (e.g.,contributed by other users).

Allows users to search, browse and view information posted by otherusers about an entity location such as a home, a business property, acondo, an apartment complex, etc. directly on a map display

Allows users to browse, form and join groups and communities based onlocation, preferences, interests, friend requests, etc.

Users can send messages to other people through their profiles withinthe map display

Users can find friends, business associates, vendors, romantic partners,etc. on the map within any location range (e.g., in their neighborhood,street, subdivision, etc.) by browsing the map display or searching forpeople with certain profile characteristics and/or similar interests.

Users can view, browse and post comments/information/reviews aboutentity locations and/or people associated with those locations (e.g.,occupants of a house, families, apartment residents, businesses,non-governmental entities, etc.), even for locations that do not have aprofile owner. For example, all entity locations visible on the mapdisplay may link to a profiles on which any user can post comments. Toown the profile and edit the information posted about an entity locationor the occupant(s), the occupant(s) would have to join the networkassociated with the social community module and become the owner of theprofile. The profile owner would then become visible in the map display(e.g., entity locations without profile owners may only be visible asquestions marks on the map, having blank profiles but public commentsections).

Users can share their comments and opinions about locations, preferencesand/or interests on their profiles that are visible and searchable onthe map display

Automatically notifies users of events and promotions in an area (e.g.,scope of area can be selected by the user), and highlights venues anduser profiles on the map.

Users can post reviews about entity locations (e.g., businesses) suchthat ratings for entity locations are visible on the map. Other userscan trace the location of the users that posted the comments on the map.

Users who post comments on other profiles can be traced directly on themap through their comments. Alternatively, users can choose to submitanonymous postings or comments on other user/entity profiles, and/or maychoose not to be traceable on the map through their comments.

For entity locations having more than one residency unit (e.g.,apartment complexes), people can create and post on profiles for anyroom/floor of the location (e.g., by entering information on a schematicview of the location that is visible on the map).

Users can visually determine routes/directions/orientation to locationsthat they can browse within the map display. Additionally, users cangenerate written driving, walking or public transit directions betweenpoints of interest (e.g., from the user's house to a friend's house)within the map display.

Users can communicate (e.g., through live chat) directly with otherusers in the area based on an association determined through theirprofiles

Business entity locations can generate targeted ads and promotionswithin locations on the map display (e.g., virtual billboards).

The social community module can realize revenue based on adclickthroughs by users, without the users being directed away from theinterface. For example, when a user clicks on any targeted ad/promotiondisplayed on the map, the profile of the entity associated with thead/promotion may be generated alongside the map display.

Neighborhood or neighborhood (see spelling differences) is ageographically localized community located within a larger city orsuburb. The residents of a given neighborhood are called neighbors (orneighbors), although this term may also be used across much largerdistances in rural areas.

Traditionally, a neighborhood is small enough that the neighbors are allable to know each other. However in practice, neighbors may not know oneanother very well at all. Villages aren't divided into neighborhoods,because they are already small enough that the villagers can all knoweach other.

The system however may work in any country and any geography of theworld. In Canada and the United States, neighborhoods are often givenofficial or semi-official status through neighborhood associations,neighborhood watches, or block watches. These may regulate such mattersas lawn care and fence height, and they may provide such services asblock parties, neighborhood parks, and community security. In some otherplaces the equivalent organization is the parish, though a parish mayhave several neighborhoods within it depending on the area.

In localities where neighborhoods do not have an official status,questions can arise as to where one neighborhood begins and anotherends, such as in the city of Philadelphia, Pa. Many cities may usedistricts and wards as official divisions of the city, rather thantraditional neighborhood boundaries.

In the mainland of the People's Republic of China, the term is generallyused for the urban administrative unit usually found immediately belowthe district level, although an intermediate, sub-district level existsin some cities. They are also called streets (administrative terminologymay vary from city to city). Neighborhoods encompass 2,000 to 10,000families. Within neighborhoods, families are grouped into smallerresidential units or quarters of 100 to 600 families and supervised by aresidents' committee; these are subdivided into residents' small groupsof fifteen to forty families. In most urban areas of China,neighborhood, community, residential community, residential unit,residential quarter have the same meaning:

or

or

and is the direct sublevel of a subdistrict

which is the direct sublevel of a district

which is the direct sublevel of a city

(See Political divisions of China.

The system and methods may be distributed through neighborhoodassociations. A neighborhood or neighborhood (see spelling differences)is a geographically localized community located within a larger city orsuburb. The residents of a given neighborhood are called neighbors (orneighbors), although this term may also be used across much largerdistances in rural areas.

Traditionally, a neighborhood is small enough that the neighbors are allable to know each other. However in practice, neighbors may not know oneanother very well at all. Villages aren't divided into neighborhoods,because they are already small enough that the villagers can all knoweach other. Each of the technologies and concepts disclosed herein maybe embodied in software and/or hardware through one or more of themodules/embodiments discussed in FIGS. 1-28.

A block party is a large public celebration in which many members of asingle neighborhood congregate to observe a positive event of someimportance. Many times, there will be celebration in the form of playingmusic and dance. Block parties gained popularity in the United Statesduring the 1970s. Block Parties were often held outdoors and power forthe DJ's sound system was taken illegally from street lights. This wasfamously referenced in the song “South Bronx” by KRS-One with the line:

“Power from a street light made the place dark. But yo, they didn'tcare, they turned it out.” It is also interesting to note that manyinner city block parties were actually held illegally, as they might bedescribed as loitering. However, police turned a blind eye to them,reasoning that if everyone from the neighborhood was gathered in oneplace there was less chance of crime being committed elsewhere.

In the suburbs, block parties are commonly held on holidays such asFourth of July or Labor Day. Sometimes the occasion may be a theme sucha “Welcome to the Neighborhood” for a new family or a recent popularmovie. Often block parties involve barbecuing, lawn games such as SimonSays and group dancing such as the Electric Slide, the Macarena or linedancing.

In other usage, a block party has come to mean any informal publiccelebration. For example, a block party can be conducted via televisioneven though there is no real block in the observance. The same is truefor the Internet. The block party is closely related to the beach party.The British equivalent is the street party.

The systems and methods illustrated in FIGS. 1-28 may have software toemulate a block party or a neighborhood watch. A neighborhood watch(also called a crime watch or neighborhood crime watch) is a citizens'organization devoted to crime and vandalism prevention within aneighborhood. It is not a vigilante organization, since members areexpected not to directly intervene in possible criminal activity.Instead, neighborhood watch members are to stay alert to unusualactivity and contact the authorities. It builds on the concept of a townwatch from Colonial America.

The current American system of neighborhood watches began developing inthe late 1960s as a response to the rape and murder of Kitty Genovese inQueens, N.Y. People became outraged that three dozen witnesses didnothing to save Genovese or to apprehend her killer. Some locals formedgroups to watch over their neighborhoods and to look out for anysuspicious activity in their areas. Shortly thereafter, the NationalSheriffs' Association began a concerted effort in 1972 to revitalize the“watch group” effort nationwide.

A neighborhood watch (also called a crime watch or neighborhood crimewatch) is a citizens' organization devoted to crime and vandalismprevention within a neighborhood. It is not a vigilante organization,since members are expected not to directly intervene in possiblecriminal activity. Instead, neighborhood watch members are to stay alertto unusual activity and contact the authorities. It builds on theconcept of a town watch from Colonial America.

The current American system of neighborhood watches began developing inthe late 1960s as a response to the rape and murder of Kitty Genovese inQueens, N.Y. People became outraged that three dozen witnesses didnothing to save Genovese or to apprehend her killer. Some locals formedgroups to watch over their neighborhoods and to look out for anysuspicious activity in their areas. Shortly thereafter, the NationalSheriffs' Association began a concerted effort in 1972 to revitalize the“watch group” effort nationwide.

The various methods, systems, and apparatuses disclosed herein andillustrated and described using the attached FIGS. 1-28 can be appliedto creating online community organizations of neighborhoods of any form.During human growth and maturation, people encounter sets of otherindividuals and experiences. Infants encounter first, their immediatefamily, then extended family, and then local community (such as schooland work). They thus develop individual and group identity throughassociations that connect them to life-long community experiences.

As people grow, they learn about and form perceptions of socialstructures. During this progression, they form personal and culturalvalues, a world view and attitudes toward the larger society. Gaining anunderstanding of group dynamics and how to “fit in” is part ofsocialization. Individuals develop interpersonal relationships and beginto make choices about whom to associate with and under whatcircumstances.

During adolescence and adulthood, the individual tends to develop a moresophisticated identity, often taking on a role as a leader or followerin groups. If associated individuals develop the intent to give ofthemselves, and commit to the collective well-being of the group, theybegin to acquire a sense of community.

Socialization: The process of learning to adopt the behavior patterns ofthe community is called socialization. The most fertile time ofsocialization is usually the early stages of life, during whichindividuals develop the skills and knowledge and learn the rolesnecessary to function within their culture and social environment. Forsome psychologists, especially those in the psychodynamic tradition, themost important period of socialization is between the ages of 1 and 10.But socialization also includes adults moving into a significantlydifferent environment, where they must learn a new set of behaviors.

Socialization is influenced primarily by the family, through whichchildren first learn community norms. Other important influences includeschool, peer groups, mass media, the workplace and government. Thedegree to which the norms of a particular society or community areadopted determines one's willingness to engage with others. The norms oftolerance, reciprocity and trust are important “habits of the heart,” asde Tocqueville put it, in an individual's involvement in community.

Continuity of the connections between leaders, between leaders andfollowers, and among followers is vital to the strength of a community.Members individually hold the collective personality of the whole. Withsustained connections and continued conversations, participants incommunities develop emotional bonds, intellectual pathways, enhancedlinguistic abilities, and even a higher capacity for critical thinkingand problem-solving. It could be argued that successive and sustainedcontact with other people might help to remove some of the tension ofisolation, due to alienation, thus opening creative avenues that wouldhave otherwise remained impassable.

Conversely, sustained involvement in tight communities may tend toincrease tension in some people. However, in many cases, it is easyenough to distance oneself from the “hive” temporarily to ease thisstress. Psychological maturity and effective communication skills arethought to be a function of this ability. In nearly every context,individual and collective behaviors are required to find a balancebetween inclusion and exclusion; for the individual, a matter of choice;for the group, a matter of charter. The sum of the creative energy(often referred to as “synergy”) and the strength of the mechanisms thatmaintain this balance is manifest as an observable and resilient senseof community.

McMillan and Chavis (1986) identify four elements of “sense ofcommunity”: 1) membership, 2) influence, 3) integration and fulfillmentof needs, and 4) shared emotional connection. They give the followingexample of the interplay between these factors: Someone puts anannouncement on the dormitory bulletin board about the formation of anintramural dormitory basketball team. People attend the organizationalmeeting as strangers out of their individual needs (integration andfulfillment of needs). The team is bound by place of residence(membership boundaries are set) and spends time together in practice(the contact hypothesis). They play a game and win (successful sharedvalent event). While playing, members exert energy on behalf of the team(personal investment in the group). As the team continues to win, teammembers become recognized and congratulated (gaining honor and statusfor being members). Someone suggests that they all buy matching shirtsand shoes (common symbols) and they do so (influence).

A Sense of Community Index (SCI) has been developed by Chavis and hiscolleagues (1986). Although originally designed to assess sense ofcommunity in neighborhoods, the index has been adapted for use inschools, the workplace and a variety of types of communities.

Communitarianism as a group of related but distinct philosophies (orideologies) began in the late 20th century, opposing classicalliberalism, capitalism and socialism while advocating phenomena such ascivil society. Not necessarily hostile to social liberalism,communitarianism rather has a different emphasis, shifting the focus ofinterest toward communities and societies and away from the individual.The question of priority, whether for the individual or community, mustbe determined in dealing with pressing ethical questions about a varietyof social issues, such as health care, abortion, multiculturalism, andhate speech.

Effective communication practices in group and organizational settingsare important to the formation and maintenance of communities. How ideasand values are communicated within communities are important to theinduction of new members, the formulation of agendas, the selection ofleaders and many other aspects. Organizational communication is thestudy of how people communicate within an organizational context and theinfluences and interactions within organizational structures. Groupmembers depend on the flow of communication to establish their ownidentity within these structures and learn to function in the groupsetting. Although organizational communication, as a field of study, isusually geared toward companies and business groups, these may also beseen as communities. The principles can also be applied to other typesof communities.

If the sense of community exists, both freedom and security exist aswell. The community then takes on a life of its own, as people becomefree enough to share and secure enough to get along. The sense ofconnectedness and formation of social networks comprise what has becomeknown as social capital.

Azadi Tower is a town square in modern Iran. Social capital is definedby Robert D. Putnam as “the collective value of all social networks (whopeople know) and the inclinations that arise from these networks to dothings for each other (norms of reciprocity).” Social capital in actioncan be seen in groups of varying formality, including neighbors keepingan eye on each others' homes. However, as Putnam notes in Bowling Alone:The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000), social capitalhas been falling in the United States. Putnam found that over the past25 years, attendance at club meetings has fallen 58 percent, familydinners are down 33 percent, and having friends visit has fallen 45percent.

Western cultures are thus said to be losing the spirit of community thatonce were found in institutions including churches and communitycenters. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg states in The Great Good Place thatpeople need three places: 1) The home, 2) the workplace, and, 3) thecommunity hangout or gathering place.

With this philosophy in mind, many grassroots efforts such as TheProject for Public Spaces are being started to create this “Third Place”in communities. They are taking form in independent bookstores,coffeehouses, local pubs and through many innovative means to create thesocial capital needed to foster the sense and spirit of community.

Community development is often formally conducted by universities orgovernment agencies to improve the social well-being of local, regionaland, sometimes, national communities. Less formal efforts, calledcommunity building or community organizing, seek to empower individualsand groups of people by providing them with the skills they need toeffect change in their own communities. These skills often assist inbuilding political power through the formation of large social groupsworking for a common agenda. Community development practitioners mustunderstand both how to work with individuals and how to affectcommunities' positions within the context of larger social institutions.

Formal programs conducted by universities are often used to build aknowledge base to drive curricula in sociology and community studies.The General Social Survey from the National Opinion Research Center atthe University of Chicago and the Saguaro Seminar at the John F. KennedySchool of Government at Harvard University are examples of nationalcommunity development in the United States. In The United Kingdom,Oxford University has led in providing extensive research in the fieldthrough its Community Development Journal, used worldwide bysociologists and community development practitioners.

At the intersection between community development and community buildingare a number of programs and organizations with community developmenttools. One example of this is the program of the Asset Based CommunityDevelopment Institute of Northwestern University. The institute makesavailable downloadable tools to assess community assets and makeconnections between non-profit groups and other organizations that canhelp in community building. The Institute focuses on helping communitiesdevelop by “mobilizing neighborhood assets”—building from the inside outrather than the outside in.

Community building and organizing: M. Scott Peck is of the view that thealmost accidental sense of community which exists at times of crisis,for example in New York City after the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, can beconsciously built. Peck believes that the process of “consciouscommunity building” is a process of building a shared story, andconsensual decision making, built upon respect for all individuals andinclusivity of difference. He is of the belief that this process goesthrough four stages:

Pseudo-community: Where participants are “nice with each other”,playing-safe, and presenting what they feel is the most favorable sidesof their personalities. Chaos: When people move beyond theinauthenticity of pseudo-community and feel safe enough to present their“shadow” selves. This stage places great demands upon the facilitatorfor greater leadership and organization, but Peck believes that“organizations are not communities”, and this pressure should beresisted.

Emptying: This stage moves beyond the attempts to fix, heal and convertof the chaos stage, when all people become capable of acknowledgingtheir own woundedness and brokenness, common to us all as human beings.Out of this emptying comes

Authentic community: the process of deep respect and true listening forthe needs of the other people in this community. This stage Peckbelieves can only be described as “glory” and reflects a deep yearningin every human soul for compassionate understanding from one's fellows.

More recently Scott Peck has remarked that building a sense of communityis easy. It is maintaining this sense of community that is difficult inthe modern world. The Ithaca Hour is an example of community-basedcurrency. Community building can use a wide variety of practices,ranging from simple events such as potlucks and small book clubs tolarger-scale efforts such as mass festivals and construction projectsthat involve local participants rather than outside contractors. Somecommunities have developed their own “Local Exchange Trading Systems”(LETS) and local currencies, such as the Ithaca Hours system, toencourage economic growth and an enhanced sense of community.

Community building that is geared toward activism is usually termed“community organizing.” In these cases, organized community groups seekaccountability from elected officials and increased directrepresentation within decision-making bodies. Where good-faithnegotiations fail, these constituency-led organizations seek to pressurethe decision-makers through a variety of means, including picketing,boycotting, sit-ins, petitioning, and electoral politics. The ARISEDetroit! coalition and the Toronto Public Space Committee are examplesof activist networks committed to shielding local communities fromgovernment and corporate domination and inordinate influence.

Community organizing is sometimes focused on more than just resolvingspecific issues. Organizing often means building a widely accessiblepower structure, often with the end goal of distributing power equallythroughout the community. Community organizers generally seek to buildgroups that are open and democratic in governance. Such groupsfacilitate and encourage consensus decision-making with a focus on thegeneral health of the community rather than a specific interest group.

The three basic types of community organizing are grassroots organizing,coalition building, and faith-based community organizing (also called“institution-based community organizing,” “broad-based communityorganizing” or “congregation-based community organizing”).

Community service is usually performed in connection with a nonprofitorganization, but it may also be undertaken under the auspices ofgovernment, one or more businesses, or by individuals. It is typicallyunpaid and voluntary. However, it can be part of alternative sentencingapproaches in a justice system and it can be required by educationalinstitutions.

The most common usage of the word “community” indicates a large groupliving in close proximity. Examples of local community include: Amunicipality is an administrative local area generally composed of aclearly defined territory and commonly referring to a town or village.Although large cities are also municipalities, they are often thought ofas a collection of communities, due to their diversity.

A neighborhood is a geographically localized community, often within alarger city or suburb. A planned community is one that was designed fromscratch and grew up more or less following the plan. Several of theworld's capital cities are planned cities, notably Washington, D.C., inthe United States, Canberra in Australia, and Brasilia in Brazil. It wasalso common during the European colonization of the Americas to buildaccording to a plan either on fresh ground or on the ruins of earlierAmerindian cities. Identity: In some contexts, “community” indicates agroup of people with a common identity other than location. Membersoften interact regularly. Common examples in everyday usage include: A“professional community” is a group of people with the same or relatedoccupations. Some of those members may join a professional society,making a more defined and formalized group.

These are also sometimes known as communities of practice. A virtualcommunity is a group of people primarily or initially communicating orinteracting with each other by means of information technologies,typically over the Internet, rather than in person. These may be eithercommunities of interest, practice or communion. (See below.) Researchinterest is evolving in the motivations for contributing to onlinecommunities.

Some communities share both location and other attributes. Memberschoose to live near each other because of one or more common interests.A retirement community is designated and at least usually designed forretirees and seniors—often restricted to those over a certain age, suchas 55. It differs from a retirement home, which is a single building orsmall complex, by having a number of autonomous households.

An intentional community is a deliberate residential community with amuch higher degree of social interaction than other communities. Themembers of an intentional community typically hold a common social,political or spiritual vision and share responsibilities and resources.Intentional communities include Amish villages, ashrams, cohousing,communes, ecovillages, housing cooperatives, kibbutzim, and land trusts.

Special nature of human community Music in Central Park, a public space.Definitions of community as “organisms inhabiting a common environmentand interacting with one another,” while scientifically accurate, do notconvey the richness, diversity and complexity of human communities.Their classification, likewise is almost never precise. Untidy as it maybe, community is vital for humans. M. Scott Peck expresses this in thefollowing way: “There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can beno community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, andultimately no life, without community.” This conveys some of thedistinctiveness of human community.

Although the present embodiments have been described with reference tospecific example embodiments, it will be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made to these embodiments withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments.For example, the various devices, modules, analyzers, generators, etc.described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry(e.g., CMOS based logic circuitry), firmware, software and/or anycombination of hardware, firmware, and/or software (e.g., embodied in amachine readable medium). For example, the various electrical structureand methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, andelectrical circuits (e.g., application specific integrated ASICcircuitry and/or in Digital Signal; Processor DSP circuitry).

For example, the social community module 106, the search module 108, thewiki module 110, the commerce module 112, the map module 114, thebuilding builder module 200, the N^(th) degree module, the taggingmodule 204, the verify module 206, the groups generator module 208, thepushpin module 210, the profile module 212, the announce module 214, thefriend finder module 222, the neighbor-neighbor help module 224, thebusiness search module 302, the communicate module 306, the directoryassistance module 308, the embedding module 310, the no-match module312, the range selector module 314, the user-place wiki module, theuser-user wiki module 402, the user-neighbor wiki module 404, theuser-business wiki module 406, the reviews module 408, the defamationprevention module 410, the wiki social network conversion module 412,the claim module 414, the data segment module 416, the disputeresolution module 418, the resident announce payment module 500, thebusiness display advertisement module 502, the geo-positionadvertisement ranking module 504, the content syndication module 506,the text advertisement module 508, the community market place module510, the click-in tracking module 512, the satellite data module 600,the cartoon map converter module 604, the profile pointer module 606,the parcel module 608 and the occupant module 610 of FIGS. 1-28 may beembodied through the social community circuit, the search circuit, thewiki circuit, the commerce circuit, the map circuit, the buildingbuilder circuit, the N^(th) degree circuit, the tagging circuit, theverify circuit, the groups circuit, the pushpin circuit, the profilecircuit, the announce circuit, the friends finder circuit, theneighbor-neighbor help circuit, the business search circuit, thecommunicate circuit, the embedding circuit, the no-match circuit, therange selector circuit, the user-place wiki circuit, the user-user wikicircuit, the user-neighbor wiki circuit, the user-business circuit, thereviews circuit, the defamation prevention circuit, the wiki socialnetwork conversion circuit, the claim circuit, the data segment circuit,the dispute resolution circuit, the resident announce payment circuit,the business display advertisement circuit, the geo-positionadvertisement ranking circuit, the content syndication circuit, the textadvertisement circuit, the community market place circuit, the click-intracking circuit, the satellite data circuit, the cartoon map convertercircuit, the profile pointer circuit, the parcel circuit, the occupantcircuit using one or more of the technologies described herein.

In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations,processes, and methods disclosed herein may be embodied in amachine-readable medium and/or a machine accessible medium compatiblewith a data processing system (e.g., a computer system), and may beperformed in any order. Accordingly, the specification and drawings areto be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: associating a verified registered user with auser profile; associating the user profile with a specific geographiclocation; generating a map concurrently displaying the user profile andthe specific geographic location; and simultaneously generating, in themap, wiki profiles associated with different geographic locationssurrounding the specific geographic location associated with the userprofile.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: processing a queryof at least one of the user profile and the specific geographiclocation; and converting a particular wiki profile of the wiki profilesto another user profile when a different registered user claims aparticular geographic location to the specific geographic locationassociated with the particular wiki profile, wherein the user profile istied to a specific property in a neighborhood, and wherein theparticular wiki profile is associated with a neighboring property to thespecific property in the neighborhood.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising: delisting a certain wiki profile of the wiki profiles when aprivate registered user claims a certain geographic location adjacent toat least one of the specific geographic location and the particulargeographic location; and masking the certain wiki profile in the mapwhen the certain wiki profile is delisted through the request of theprivate registered user.
 4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:processing a tag data associated with at least one of the specificgeographic location, a particular geographic location, and the delistedgeographic location; displaying a frequent one of the tag data when atleast one of the specific geographic location and the particulargeographic location is made active, but not when a geographic locationis delisted; permitting a commercial user to purchase a customizablebusiness profile associated with a commercial geographic location;enabling the verified registered user to communicate a message to theneighborhood based on a selectible distance range away from the specificgeographic location; and processing a payment of the commercial user andthe verified registered user.
 5. The method of claim 3 furthercomprising: permitting the verified registered user to edit anyinformation in the wiki profiles including the particular wiki profileand the certain wiki profile until the certain wiki profile is claimedby at least one of the different registered user and the privateregistered user; enabling a claimant of any wiki profile to control whatinformation is displayed on their user profile; and allowing theclaimant to segregate certain information on their user profile suchthat only other registered users directly connected to the claimant areable to view data on their user profile.
 6. The method of claim 3further comprising: applying a first user ID with the verifiedregistered user and a second user ID to the different registered user;connecting the verified registered user with the different registereduser with each other through at least one of a geo-positioning dataassociated with the first user ID and the second user ID; setting amaximum degree of separation (Nmax) of at least two that is allowed forconnecting any two registered users, wherein two registered users whoare directly connected are deemed to be separated by one degree ofseparation and two registered users who are connected through no lessthan one other registered user are deemed to be separated by two degreesof separation and two registered users who are connected through no lessthan N other registered users are deemed to be separated by N+1 degreesof separation; searching the user ID of the different registered user ina set of user IDs that are stored of registered users who are less thanNmax degrees of separation away from the verified registered user, andnot in the sets of user IDs that are stored for registered users who aregreater than or equal to Nmax degrees of separation away from theverified registered user, until the user ID of the different registereduser is found in one of the searched sets; and connecting the verifiedregistered user to the different registered user if the user ID of thedifferent registered user is found in one of the searched sets, whereinthe method limits the searching of the different registered user in thesets of user IDs that are stored of registered users who are less thanNmax degrees of separation away from the verified registered user, suchthat the verified registered user and the different registered user whoare separated by more than Nmax degrees of separation are not found andconnected.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising: searchinginitially in the sets of user IDs that are stored of registered userswho are directly connected to the verified registered user;communicating a profile of the different registered user to the verifiedregistered user to display through a marker associating the verifiedregistered user with the different registered user; storing a connectionpath between the verified registered user and the different registereduser, the connection path indicating at least one other registered userthrough whom the connection path between the verified registered userand the different registered user is made; communicating the connectionpath between the verified registered user and the different registereduser to the verified registered user to display; and embedding ahyperlink in the connection path of each of the at least one registeredusers through whom the connection path between the verified registereduser and the different registered user is made.
 8. The method of claim 7further comprising: storing of each registered user associated e-mailaddresses of individuals who are not registered users and identified byeach registered user as neighbors. communicating out an invitation tobecome a new user to neighbors of the particular user; processing anacceptance of a neighbor to whom the invitation was sent; adding theneighbor to a database and storing of the neighbor, a user ID and a setof user IDs of registered users who are directly connected to theneighbor, the set of user IDs stored of the neighbor including at leastthe user ID of the verified registered user; notifying the verifiedregistered user that the invitation to the neighbor has been acceptedwhen an acceptance is processed; and processing inputs from the neighborhaving descriptive data about the friend and storing the inputs in thedatabase.
 9. The method of claim 7 further comprising: communicatingbrief profiles of registered users, including a brief profile of thedifferent registered user, to the verified registered user for display,each of the brief profiles including a hyperlink to a corresponding fullprofile; processing a hyperlink selection from the verified registereduser, wherein, upon processing the hyperlink selection of the fullprofile of the different registered user, the full profile of thedifferent registered user is communicated to the verified registereduser for display; and ensuring that brief profiles of those registeredusers who are more than Nmax degrees of separation away from theverified registered user are not communicated to the verified registereduser for display.
 10. The method claim 1 in a form of a machine-readablemedium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine,causes the machine to perform the method of claim
 1. 11. A systemcomprising: a plurality of neighborhoods having registered users andunregistered users of a global neighborhood environment; a socialcommunity module of the global neighborhood environment to generate abuilding creator in which the registered users may create and modifyempty wiki profiles, building layouts, social network pages, and floorlevels structures housing residents and businesses in the neighborhood;a wiki module of the global neighborhood environment to enable theregistered users to create a social network page of themselves, and toedit information associated with the unregistered users identifiablethrough a viewing of physical properties in which the unregistered usersreside when the registered users have knowledge of characteristicsassociated with the unregistered users; a search module of the globalneighborhood environment to enable a people search, a business search,and a category search of any data in the social community module and toenable embedding of any content in the global neighborhood environmentin other search engines, blogs, social networks, professional networksand static websites; a commerce module of the global neighborhoodenvironment to provide an advertisement system to a business whopurchase their location in the global neighborhood environment in whichthe advertisement is viewable concurrently with a map indicating alocation of the business, and in which revenue is attributed to theglobal neighborhood environment when the registered users and theunregistered users click-in on a simultaneously displayed data of theadvertisement along with the map indicating a location of the business;and a map module of the global neighborhood environment to include a mapdata associated with a satellite data which serves as a basis ofrendering the map in the global neighborhood environment and whichincludes a simplified map generator which may transform the map to afewer color and location complex form using a parcel data whichidentifies at least some residence, civic, and business locations in thesatellite data.
 12. The system of claim 11 further comprising: a verifymodule of the social community module to authenticate an email addressof a registered user prior to enabling the registered user to editinformation associated with the unregistered users through at least oneof an email response and a digital signature technique; a groupgenerator module of the social community module to enable the registeredusers to form groups with each other surrounding at least one of acommon neighborhood political, cultural, educational, professional andsocial interest; a tagging module of the social community module toenable the registered users and the unregistered users to leave briefcomments on each of the wiki profiles and social network pages in theglobal neighborhood environment, in which the brief comments aresimultaneously displayed when a pointing device rolls over a pushpinindicating a physical property associated with any of the registeredusers and the unregistered users; a pushpin module of the socialcommunity module to generate customized indicators of different types ofusers, locations, and interests directly in the map; an announce moduleof the social community module to distribute a message in a specifiedrange of distance away from the registered users when a registered userpurchases a message to communicate to certain ones of the registeredusers surrounding a geographic vicinity adjacent to the particularregistered user originating the message, wherein the particularregistered user purchases the message through a governmental currencyand a number of tokens collected by the particular user through acreation of content in the global neighborhood environment; an nthdegree module of the social community module to enable the particularregistered user to communicate with an unknown registered user through acommon registered user known by the particular registered user and theunknown registered user that is an nth degree of separation away fromthe particular registered user and the unknown registered user; and aprofile module of the social community module to create a set ofprofiles of each one of the registered users and to enable each one ofthe registered users to submit media content of themselves, otherregistered users, and unregistered users identifiable through the map.13. The system of claim 11 further comprising: a claim module of wikimodule to enable the unregistered users to claim at least one of thephysical properties associated with their residence; a disputeresolution module of the wiki module to determine a legitimate user ofdifferent unregistered users who claim a same physical property; adefamation prevention module of the wiki module to enable the registeredusers to modify the information associated with the unregistered usersidentifiable through the viewing of the physical properties, and toenable registered user voting of an accuracy of the informationassociated with the unregistered users; a reviews module of the wikimodule to provide comments, local reviews and ratings of variousbusinesses as contributed by the registered users and unregistered usersof the global network environment; and a wiki-social network conversionmodule of the wiki module to transform the wiki profiles to socialnetwork profiles when the registered users claim the wiki profiles. 14.The system of claim 11 further comprising: a communication module of thesearch module to enable voice over internet, live chat, and groupannouncement functionality in the global neighborhood environment amongdifferent members of the global neighborhood environment; a directoryassistance module of the search module to provide voice responseassistance to users assessable through a web and telephony interface ofany category, business, community, and residence search queries of usersof any search engine embedding content of the global neighborhoodenvironment; an embed module of the search module to automaticallyextract address and contact info from other social networks, searchengines, and content providers, and to enable automatic extraction ofgroup lists from contact databases of instant messaging platforms; and ano-match module of the search module to request additional informationfrom the verified registered user about a person, place, and businesshaving no listing in the global neighborhood environment when no matchesare found in a search query of the verified registered user, and tocreate a new wiki page based on a response of the verified registereduser about the at least one person, place, and business not previouslyindexed in the global neighborhood environment.
 15. The system of claim11 further comprising: a geo-position advertisement ranking module ofthe commerce module to determine an order of the advertisement in aseries of other advertisements provided in the global neighborhoodenvironment by other advertisers, wherein the advertisement is at leastone a display advertisement, a text advertisement, and an employmentrecruiting portal associated with the business that is simultaneouslydisplayed with the map indicating the location of the business; a clickthrough tracking module of the commerce module to determine a number ofclick throughs from the advertisement to a primary website of thebusiness; a click in tracking module of the commerce module to determinea number of users who clicked in to the advertisement simultaneouslydisplayed with the map indicating the location of the business; acommunity marketplace module of the commerce module to provide a forumin which the registered users can trade and announce messages of tradingevents with at least certain registered users in geographic proximityfrom each other; and a content syndication module of the commerce moduleto enable any data in the commerce module to be syndicated to othernetwork based trading platforms.
 16. The system of claim 11 furthercomprising: a cartoon map converter module in the map module to apply afilter to the satellite data to transform the satellite data into asimplified polygon based representation using a Bezier curve algorithmthat converts point data of the satellite data to a simplified form. 17.A global neighborhood environment, comprising: a first instruction setto enable a social network to reside above a map data, in which thesocial network is associated with specific geographical locationsidentifiable in the map data; a second instruction set integrated withthe first instruction set to enable users of the social network tocreate profiles of other people through a forum which provides a freeform of expression of the users sharing information about any entitiesand people residing in any geographical location identifiable in thesatellite map data, and to provide a technique of each of the users toclaim a geographic location to control content in their respectiveclaimed geographic locations; and a third instruction set integratedwith the first instruction set and the second instruction set to enablesearching of people in the global neighborhood environment by indexingeach of the data shared by the users of any of the people and entitiesresiding in any geographic location.
 18. The global neighborhoodenvironment of claim 17 further comprising: a fourth instruction set toprovide a moderation of content about each other posted of the usersthrough trusted users of the global neighborhood environment who have anability to ban specific users and delete any offensive and libelouscontent in the global neighborhood environment.
 19. The globalneighborhood environment of claim 18 further comprising: a fifthinstruction set to enable an insertion of any content generated in theglobal neighborhood environment in other search engines through asyndication and advertising relationship between the global neighborhoodenvironment and other internet commerce and search portals.
 20. Theglobal neighborhood environment of claim 19 further comprising: a sixthinstruction set to grow the social network through neighborhood groups,local politicians, block watch communities, issue activism groups, andneighbors who invite other known parties and members to share profilesof themselves and learn characteristics and information about othersupporters and residents in a geographic area of interest through theglobal neighborhood environment.
 21. The global neighborhood environmentof claim 20 further comprising: a seventh instruction set to determinequantify an effect on at least one of a desirability of a location, apopularity of a location, and a market value of a location based on analgorithm that considers a number of demographic and socialcharacteristics of a region surrounding the location through a reviewsmodule.